Britain mortgage approvals declined to the lowest level in May since June 2013, signaling that the housing market may be cooling gradually, data from the Bank of England (BOE) showed on Monday.
The number of loan approvals for house purchase down from 62,806 to 61,707 in May, compared to the average of 69,320 over the previous six months, said the central bank.
The fall in mortgage approvals was a further sign that new mortgage affordability rules started in April were already having an impact on the housing market.
The BOE also introduced new measures on mortgage borrowing last week to cap the households indebtedness caused by the over-heated housing market and soaring mortgage lending.
House prices rose 0.3 percent in June, the slowest pace since January, as buyers became more cautious on the outlook for the housing market, data from Britain's housing information provider Hometrack showed.
However, some economist thought the cooling in housing market would be temporary.
The BOE data also showed that the lending secured on dwellings increased by 2.0 billion pounds (3.4 billion U.S. dollars) in May, compared to the average monthly increase of 1.5 billion pounds over the previous six months.
Loans to non-financial businesses increased by 3.4 billion pounds in May, compared to the average monthly decrease of 2.1 billion pounds over the previous six months. (1 pound = 1.7 U.S. dollars)