The number of mortgages approved for house purchases by the major High Street banks has risen to a 17 month high according to data released today by the British Bankers' Association (BBA).

Apparently new mortgage approvals in July were 38,181, which is an increase of 7.4% compared with June and 77% higher than a year ago.

Read the full BBA press release

DebtWizard comment

Many potential home owners are still being denied the opportunity to enter the market because they need large deposits, some argue this is not a bad thing but we need a regular flow of first time buyers to keep the market ticking along.

Although this is encouraging news the new mortgage lending is still below seasonal expectations.