However, it remained below the record £11.4bn in March this year.
Mortgage approvals for house purchase were 87,500 in May, up slightly from 86,900 in April, but lower than the recent peak of 103,200 in November 2020.
Jonathan Stinton, Head of Intermediary Relationships at Coventry Building Society, said: “It’s not surprising that the mortgage market is continuing to perform well, with homebuyers keen to move before the first change to the Stamp Duty holiday at the end of June.
“There’s also a lot of competition amongst lenders, with mortgage rates nearing record lows in some cases – this is of course great news for borrowers”.
“We expect figures for June to be even higher, and for activity to return to more normal levels after the threshold for stamp duty has been lowered to £250,000.”
Andrew Montlake, managing director of Coreco, added: “Even though the chance of beating the stamp duty deadline was remote, mortgage approvals remained high in May.
“This shows that record low borrowing rates and the radical shift to homeworking have been as much a driver of transaction levels as tax savings. The knock-on effect of a fundamental lack of stock is pent-up demand, especially among first-time buyers and landlords, and this will support activity levels over the summer.
“The increased appetite among lenders for self-employed borrowers is also boosting mortgage take-up. Lenders are increasingly concluding that self-employment may be less of a risk than employment in the current market.”
