The trade body said that the last two years have broadly reflected the continuation of a stronger long-term lending trend over recent years.

An annual total of 982,286 mortgages were approved by the main high street banks during 2019, a rise of 7.4% on 2018.

Mortgages approvals for home purchases over the year were 8% higher than in 2018, remortgage approvals were up 7.9% and approvals for other secured borrowing rose by 3%.

Gross mortgage lending in December 2019 was £22.2 billion, a rise of 6.5% on December 2018. Within that figure the high street banks’ lending was £15.2 billion, which is 21.9% higher than 12 months previously.