The number of mortgage approvals fell from their ten-year high last month but remain up annually.

Data from trade body UK Finance shows that high street banks approved 43,957 mortgages for house purchase in August.

This was below the decade-high of 51,160 that was recorded in July but remains up 3.2% compared with last year.

Gross mortgage lending was, however, down 3.2% to £24bn.

Commenting on the figures, Sam Harhat, head of financial services at Andrews Property Group, said: “The market has backed off from the decade high it registered for approvals a month earlier, but that shouldn’t detract from what has recently been a story of strength in the face of adversity.

“Approvals for home purchase are still firing on all cylinders in comparison to the same month last year and this is the number that will be receiving a lot of attention.

“Property watchers from all sides of the industry want to see an indication that cooling price growth, and some outright falls in many highly contested areas of the country, is having some effect and resulting in a recovery in sales volumes.”

Harhat said the improvement in the transaction volumes recorded by HMRC this week suggests a recovery is already happening.