May mortgage lending figures show the number of mortgages agreed dropped again with remortgaging and other secured loans falling the furthest.
“The slowdown, possibly due to the new mortgage rules, appears to have impacted more on re-mortgaging and other secured loans rather than house purchase,” said Woolhouse.
“These are the first mortgage approval figures we have seen since the introduction of the Mortgage Market Review, so it is significant they have fallen for the fourth month in a row,” he said.
On Thursday, the Financial Policy Committee of the Bank of England will announce whether it is planning to propose any action to cool the UK housing market.
UK investment fund manager Neil Woodford warned that a rate rise of just 0.25% now could be very destabilising for the economy and hit disposable incomes hard.
This comes after Bank of England Governor Mark Carney appeared to reverse his position that a rate rise could come sooner than markets expect after just 12 days.
Speaking to the Treasury Select Committee, Carney said stronger growth may well be offset by the fact there remains spare capacity in the UK economy.
Labour MP Pat McFadden subsequently accused the Bank of inconsistent messaging, describing it as behaving like “an unreliable boyfriend: one day hot, one day cold”.
