Lenders approved the fewest number of house purchase mortgages in almost a year during May.

The latest Bank of England data shows that mortgage approvals for house purchase dropped to 61,707 in May from 62,806 in April.

The figure compares with January’s figure of 75,901 and a pre-credit crunch average of over 100,000 approvals per month, and comes after the Mortgage Market Review (MMR) introduced strict new affordability rules.

House purchase approvals have fallen for four consecutive months since January’s high.

Including remortgaging and other advances, there were 99,805 approvals in May – down 5.6% from May of last year.

Credit ratings agency Moody’s said mortgage interest rates could increase by 2-3% over the next two or three years, while Bank of England deputy governor Charlie Bean said in a television interview on Sunday that it would be reasonable to assume rates would rise around the end of the year.