mortgage lending reached a new high during last month as loans for buying a house remained buoyant, figures showed yesterday.

A total of £25.7bn was loaned during the month, with mortgage lending on course to reach £270bn this year, compared with £219bn last year, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said.

New loans for house purchase remained high for the third month in a row at £11.9bn, contributing to a new quarterly record of £35.2bn during the third quarter.

But the group said total lending for house purchases for the first nine months of the year was lower than during the same period last year, showing it was the continued buoyancy of remortgaging that had driven the lending market this year.

CML director general Michael Coogan said: "Lending activity shows no signs of slowing in the near future, with the July cut in interest rates having given renewed buoyancy to the mortgage market.

"We expect lending to remain strong for the rest of this year, and into next year, until the impact of predicted increases in interest rates feeds through."

The figures were supported by others from the British Bankers' Association which showed mortgage lending by the major banks was also up during the month.

It said net lending, which strips out redemptions and repayments, rose by £5.47bn during September, compared with £5.31bn the previous month.

But the group said despite worries that consumers were taking on increasingly high levels of unsecured debt, figures showed growth in borrowing through credit cards, loans and overdrafts was actually lower than it had been the previous year.