The number of mortgages approved for property purchases plummeted by 20.8% last month, lender data shows.

Figures form banking trade body UK Finance show there were 38,710 approvals for mortgages for home purchases during March.

This was 16.9% up on the 33,110 in February 2018 but down 20.8% annually.

The value of mortgage lending for home buyers in March was also down, at £7.5bn last month compared with £9.1bn at the same time last year.

It was still an improvement on the £6.2bn lent in February 2018.

Mike Scott, chief property analyst at online agents Yopa, suggested the bad weather, including the Beast from the East, may have been responsible for some of the drop.

He said: “UK Finance reports a downwards lending trend in March, in line with the downturn in house sales reported by HMRC.

“Some of that drop will be due to the bad weather and earlier Easter weekend, leading people to defer their mortgage paperwork until the following month. We shouldn’t read too much into a single month’s data but it may indicate lower levels of activity in the housing market in the months to come.”