The housing market remained in the doldrums in November, with mortgage approvals more than 40 per cent below their level the previous year, the British Bankers Association said on Thursday.

High street banks approved 44,811 mortgages for house purchase last month, the BBA said, slightly higher than October's record low of 44,321 but well below the six month average of 57,342.

Net mortgage lending also softened, rising by ?4.3bn compared with October's rise of ?4.8bn and a six month average of ?5.5bn.

Estate agents will be hoping that last month's cut in interest rates, and the prospect of the Bank of England delivering further cuts, will restore some confidence to the market after several months of gloom.

"Although most of the news coming out of the housing market has been poor of late, the hint of stabilisation in the... approvals data is not entirely isolated," said Malcolm Barr, economist at JPMorgan.

But the figures follow surveys suggesting both enquiries from new buyers and the number of properties coming to the market continued falling in recent months.

The BBA also reported modest growth in credit card borrowing, where consumers are still paying off debts faster than than they are running up bills.

"Consumers are striving to curb their use of credit cards and find less expensive ways of financing their spending," said Howard Archer, economist at Global Insight.

Inflows of deposits in bank accounts were also well below the recent monthly average, suggesting confidence has not yet recovered after Northern Rock's misfortunes.

"Tighter household finances and uncertainty in the financial markets are driving consumer behaviour," said David Dooks, the BBA's statistics director. "Deposits are weak and unsecured borrowing remains subdued, despite a marginal rise in November."

A period of higher interest rates also seems to have made homeowners less inclined to finance spending by withdrawing money from their properties. Figures released on Thursday by the Bank of England showed housing equity withdrawal - borrowing secured against a property - was ?10.5bn in the third quarter, higher than the previous quarter but still the second lowest reading in two years.