Mortgage approvals for house purchases fell for the third consecutive month in April, the Bank of England has said, while a leader in the estate agency world, Nick Leeming,  said  it is taking up to ten weeks for mortgage applicants just to get a valuation.

After climbing to a peak of 75,838 in January, approvals dropped back to 62,918 in April – the lowest since last July.

Further falls could lie ahead, one industry figure has warned.

Meanwhile, this morning Nationwide issued its latest house price index showing the average at £186,512 for May – an annual increase of 11.1%, and a monthly rise of 0.7%. According to Nationwide, house prices have now risen for 13 consecutive months.

The BoE’s figures tie in with the British Bankers Association’s latest data covering only high street banks. This said that their lending dropped back in April to 42,173 approvals.

The fall is being widely seen as a result of new affordability testing under the Mortgage Market Review which was implemented at the end of April, although a number of lenders started following the rules early.

Richard Sexton, director of e.surv chartered surveyors, said: “The new MMR regulations have temporarily slowed lending in the market.

“Borrowers must now prove that they can withstand potential interest rate rises up to 7%, as well as answering a host of detailed questions about future finances.

“But the slowdown has also come from the supply side. Lenders have invested time training staff and implementing lengthier advisory meetings, which has capped their capacity to process applications. It has led to an interim lending lull.

“But this is more than made up for by the benefits of the new system, ensuring lending is sustainable and borrowers can afford their repayments even when the base rate begins rising.

“MMR is not the only regulation putting the brakes on lending.

“The Bank of England are increasing stress testing of the top eight lenders to make certain they can withstand a 35% fall in house prices – making them more resilient to any future financial problems.

“That means banks will need to build capital buffers, which may result in a further lending slowdown in the short term.”

Meanwhile, according to the Land Registry, average house prices across England and Wales stood at £172,069 in April.

Although a monthly jump of 1.5%, that is still less than the peak of £181,572 in November 2007.

House prices dipped annually by 1.9% in the north east, but rose by 17% in London, and by 6.7% overall.

The number of property transactions increased over the last year.

In February, the latest month for which data is available, there were 62,368 transactions, up from 45,236 in February 2013.

It is worth underlining that the Land Registry – which as usual is a sharp contrast from ONS statistics – gives historic data, based on sales agreed months earlier.

It therefore pre-dates newer sentiment, notably Friday’s Hometrack which suggested that while all indicators are still going up, they are rising at a slower rate.

Nick Leeming, chairman of Jackson-Stops & Staff, also warned that headline-grabbing house prices in London are not reflected elsewhere.

He said that directors of the firm’s 42 offices nationwide were reporting that the hype surrounding the London market is leading some vendors to demand unrealistic prices for their properties.

Leeming said: “Bubble, what bubble ? There is no bubble outside London.

“Sales in the mid-market from £350,000 to £900,000 are encouraging, but properties over £1m are taking months to sell.

“One office told me that his area has ‘a load of overpriced stock and agents believing their own propaganda’.

“The buying process also remains sluggish, with our office in Northampton reporting  that mortgage applications are painfully slow and taking up to ten weeks before a mortgage survey is carried out.”