“The latest Money and Credit figures from the Bank of England showed mortgage borrowing in December remained flat compared to the previous month. There were a number of factors in play – while the base rate reduction and falling mortgage rates stimulated competition, the housing market tends to slow down in the run-up to Christmas.

This could explain why net mortgage approvals for house purchase fell, while approvals for remortgaging rose for a second month.

With falling rates and improving affordability, I’m optimistic that we’ll see mortgage approvals steadily rising in the coming months.”