Following a weak February, mortgage activity picked up in March, with households borrowing an extra £4.1bn secured against property in the month, new figures revealed.

Data published by the Bank of England (BoE) highlighted that activity in March was significantly higher than that seen in February, when households borrowed an additional £3.3bn.

In March, the annual growth rate of mortgage lending was 3.3 per cent, and it has remained around the 3 per cent mark since the beginning of 2016, despite recent political and economic uncertainty. The annual growth rate of mortgage lending, though, still remains modest when compared to the pre-crisis period, the BoE said.

However, while lending was up, the number of mortgages approved for house purchase in March fell by around 3,000 to 62,300. Furthermore, while remortgaging levels have decreased slightly in recent months, they rose marginally in March to 49,700.

Despite the lower level of mortgage approvals reported in March, mortgage broker Coreco director Andrew Montlake predicted that the figure will improve “significantly” in April as it experienced a “sharp pick-up” in activity levels.

Montlake highlighted that a combination of lower house prices, Help-to-Buy, fewer amateur landlords and better mortgage rates at 90 per cent and 95 per cent LTV has “incentivised” first-time buyers on a level “not seen for years”. He noted that the “two main pillars” supporting the mortgage market, currently, are first-time buyers and existing homeowners that are switching onto better rates, with remortgaging activity “thriving”.

Montlake added: “Crucially, far more products are being created at higher loan to values, which is really empowering first time buyers and giving them a genuine leg-up. Lenders are being more accommodating with their criteria and this is making affordability less of an issue compared to a year ago.”

Commenting on the statistics from a more-political point of view, Phoebus Software sales and marketing director Richard Pike stated: “A s fed up as everyone is, with all that is being thrown them from the political arena, the time will come when caution is simply thrown to the wind and personal needs will overtake. Then we’ll see how well the housing market copes with demand. That being said, it would be a very brave person that would put their hat in the ring with concrete predictions for the coming months.”

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