According to the latest statistics released by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), mortgage lending in May fell by 2 percent to £10.3 billion, as against the April figures - thereby marking the second monthly fall in a row!

A year-on-year analysis shows that the mortgage lending figure for the month of May is nearly 60 percent down on May 2008 figures - when gross lending was £24.7 billion -, and almost 70 percent lower than 2007-summer figures when the housing market was at the zenith!

Though the mortgage lending increase in March to £11.5 billion had brought a glimmer of hope of early 'recovery signs' of the mortgage market, the drops in April and May have somewhat repealed the hope. The CML is of the opinion that a noteworthy recovery in sales appears unlikely in the next few months.

Nevertheless, CML said that the headline figure for May could cloak a reasonable advance in lending for house purchases, which had been counteracted by a sharp fall in re-mortgages, as borrowers were likely to stick to their existing deals. CML noted that lending to people changing their mortgage provider had dropped off.

CML economist Paul Samter said: "Lending volumes appear to have stabilized at extremely low levels, but the weak labor market and lenders' limited access to funding will constrain activity for some time yet."