The housing market has shown further signs of improvement throughout the summer, recent figures have revealed.

A survey carried out by the Bank of England showed that the number of mortgages approved for house purchases last month rose from 44,169 in May, to 47,584 – the highest level since April 2008, marking the fifth consecutive month that approvals have increased.

Results from another survey have suggested that the rental market is experiencing  a spillover, with the number of “reluctant landlords” reducing.

The demand for rental properties more than doubled in the year to May, as people people who either couldn’t sell or were reluctant to do so, sought tenants instead.

But after the number of properties on offer has seen a squeeze, together with the seasonal summer increase in the demand for tenants, the findaproperty.com website has said the average typical rent has risen by £6 per month since May.

The figures from the Bank of England’s mortgage approval survey are still well below average when comparing to the housing boom, indicating that demand is still low.

Chris Skinner, banking analyst at Balatro said: “Demand is flat because potential buyers believe that the bottom of the market has not been reached yet.”

He said that this was resulting in broken chains within house sales, but added that banks were beginning to improve mortgage accessibility to customers.

The figures showed that total net lending for house purchases in June, increased by £343m – slightly higher than the rise seen in May which was the lowest monthly increase ever recorded.

Amit Kara, UK economist at UBS said: “I think the mortgage approvals data suggests that the market is improving gradually, and in our view it will continue to improve over the next coming months.”

“This in part because there is resilient demand, but also because Northern Rock and some of the other banks are being encouraged to lend.”

Net consumer credit also increased by an around £71 million last month, primarily due to credit card lending which saw an estimated £167 million rise. However, the figures suggested that other types of loans fell by £96 million.

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