The official data released has revealed that the number of mortgages sold to home owners during the first three months of this year has marked a sharp squeeze, reflecting that the recovery in the housing market has almost stagnated.

The statistics issued by the Bank of England uncovered that 144,000 mortgages have been reportedly sold to people buying a home between January and March, significantly lowered from 174,000 in the preceding three months.

Also the net lending incurred on dwellings registered a climb by nearly £300m in March compared to February, outlining a significant reduction compared to the £1.8bn rise witnessed in February.

"There may well be a slowdown in mortgage activity in the April and May data, as many prospective house buyers are currently putting everything on hold until there is greater clarity around how the next Parliament, hung or otherwise, will deal with the deficit", quoted, Brian Murphy, head of lending at mortgage brokers, Mortgage Advice Bureau.

The data uncovers that the number of approvals made for house purchase witnessed a slight rise to 48,901 in March following a nine-month low of 46,882 in February.

However, the value of approvals boosted to £6.6bn compared to £6.3bn in the previous month. Remortgage approvals also increased very slightly by £100m to £3.7bn.