The British Bankers’ Association (BBA) has said that gross mortgage lending rose to £11.9 billion in February, 3% up on January. The number of new mortgage approvals also rose by 22% between January and February to 158,391. David Dooks, director of statistics at BBA, said: “The declining trend seen during 2004 may be bottoming out. We have seen the start of the seasonal upturn in loan approvals, albeit from a very low point.” Adding to the optimistic outlook the property website Hometrack said the number of house hunters registered with estate agents had risen by 6.2% last month. The Nationwide House Price Index also showed that house prices rose by 0.5% in February. (Times, Telegraph)