British mortgage lending rose by just under £5 billion sterling in May, the British Bankers' Association (BBA) said today.
The figure was the smallest monthly gain since November and a sharp slowdown from a record £6.4 billion in April.
Although the BBA said it was premature to conclude that the market was moderating, the figures could provide some comfort to Bank of England officials who are concerned about consumer borrowing.
The Bank of England has raised rates by a full percentage point since November to keep consumer inflation on target but many analysts have speculated that more recent rises have been an attempt to cool the runaway housing market and rampant consumer borrowing to fund those purchases.