House purchase approvals rose to 35,276 in February from 35,154 in January.

While they were 16% higher than in February 2009, they were still well below the figure in December as the aftermath of the year-end change to Stamp Duty was still working through.

The average value of house purchase approvals at £140,800 was 11.5% higher than a year ago.

Remortgaging approvals rose to 21,101 in February from 20,571 in January. Volumes of remortgaging and equity withdrawal approvals continued to be lower than a year earlier.

BBA statistics director, David Dooks said: “Consumers are focusing on building up their deposits, while any increase in borrowing appetite is unlikely without greater household confidence and economic certainty.”

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The high street banking groups surveyed account for some two-thirds of all UK mortgage lending outstanding and include Santander UK, Barclays, Bradford & Bingley, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Northern Rock and Royal Bank of Scotland.

Andrew Montlake, director at broker Coreco, commented: “Although we have seen a slight upturn in mortgage activity after the January lull, activity has not picked up as much as we expected.

“The main reason for this is not so much the fallout from the December rush to beat the stamp duty deadline, but more the fact that there is a General Election just around the corner.”