The number of mortgage approvals hit 71,357 in March, broadly in line with the average over the previous six months, but a slight drop from 73,871 in February.
The number of approvals for remortgaging was 41,347, compared to the average of 40,755 over the previous six months.
Net mortgage lending soared to £7.4 billion, compared to the average of £3.6 billion over the previous six months. Gross lending secured on dwellings was £27.4 billion and repayments were £18.5 billion.
Mark Harris, chief executive of mortgage broker SPF Private Clients, said:
"March saw a significant jump in mortgage lending at £7.4bn, more than double the average of £3.6bn over the previous six months. This growth was fuelled by investors and second homebuyers trying to complete before the 1 April hike in stamp duty.
"The number of approvals was broadly in line with the previous six months, as those transactions will not complete before the April deadline so are likely to be those that missed the boat or more likely, the usual purchases you would expect to see at this time of year from first-time buyers, second steppers and beyond.
"Remortgaging numbers were slightly stronger on previous months as borrowers continue to take advantage of extremely cheap mortgage rates. However, with the first interest rate increase nowhere in sight, there is little impetus for borrowers to remortgage with many unlikely to do so until we actually see a rate rise, or more."
Richard Pike, Phoebus Software sales and marketing director, added:
"The mortgage activity in March was, as expected, as buoyant as it has been over the past six months. The stamp duty changes for second homes had the inevitable effect, with many pushing to get completions through before the April deadline. The ultimate goal in making these changes of course was to enable more first-time-buyers to purchase, and this already seems to be happening. The First Time Buyer tracker from Your Move and Reeds Rains this morning shows an increase of almost 50% more first-time-buyer activity in March compared to February. So perhaps the increase we saw in March wasn’t only down to the ‘surge’ to complete after all.
“There has been much talk about economic uncertainty since the EU referendum was announced. Yesterday two reports stated that annual rate of house price growth dipped in the last month, which may be the first sign that things are changing, but to date there has been little sign that consumer confidence is waning.”
