The scorching summer has continued with the Bank of England, Nationwide and Building Societies Association all reporting dazzling growth.
In its first monthly breakdown of gross mortgage lending, the Bank of England reported that gross lending rose by around 12% in July to £16.7 billion, up from £14.9 billion in June and a 29% increase on last July.
House purchase lending rose by 11% from £9.7 billion in June to £10.8 billion in July, while remortgaging rose 16% from £4.3 billion in June to £4.9 billion in July.
Total mortgage lending transactions rose nearly 13%, from around 108,600 in June to 122,300 in July.
Bob Pannell, chief economist at the CML said the £1 billion-plus monthly increase in house purchase lending reinforces the picture of a housing market that is firmly in recovery mode. However, as the governor of the Bank of England remarked just two days ago, lending levels remain well below pre-crisis levels."
Gross mortgage lending by building societies and other mutual lenders hit £4 billion in July, up 30% on July last year, according to new data from the Building Societies Association (BSA).
That is the highest monthly figure since data was first published for the mutual sector at the start of 2010.
The value of mortgage approvals in July also hit the highest level since 2010 at £4.2 billion compared to £2.8 billion in July last year.
Brian Morris at the BSA said: “First-time buyers, and in particular those with smaller deposits, are being actively supported by mutuals. In the first seven months of the year over a quarter of lending by mutuals to first time buyers was to those with a deposit of 10% or less."
The sunny outlook for the property market was confirmed by Nationwide data showing "brisk" growth of 0.6% in August and 3.5% over 12 months, taking the average UK home is now worth £170,514, it calculates.
Jonathan Samuels, chief executive of Dragonfly Property Finance, commented: "Few expected anything different from the Nationwide's August data. The market, during the height of the summer, continued to go through the gears.
"The three-month on three-month figure of 1.4% underlines this momentum.
"More secure about their jobs, more likely to get mortgage finance and more confident, due to forward guidance, that rates will stay low for quite some time yet, an increasing number of people are committing to a purchase.
"But vendors cannot be complacent. While demand is rising steadily, this is by no means a seller's market. Today's buyers are much more wary about overpaying. They have been stung before and don't want to be stung again."
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