mortgage lending showed no sign of slowing down during October as advances reached a new high, according to Bank of England figures.

A total of £20.34 billion was lent during the month, compared with £19.37 billion in September, as the seasonal autumn slowdown failed to materialise.

Net lending figures, which take into account redemptions and repayments, were also strong, increasing by £950 million to reach £7.87 billion.

There were no signs a slowdown in mortgage lending was imminent with the value of new loans approved in October reaching £22.82 billion, £2.3 billion higher than the average for the three months to the end of September.

The number of loans approved for house purchase also soared to 124,000, compared with a three-monthly average of 117,000.

Even after the figure was adjusted to take into account the number of working days in the month, it was still well up on the recent average of 115,000 at 121,000.

Simon Rubinsohn, chief economist at stockbrokers Gerrard, said: "The figures are strong but I'm not totally surprised.

"The Council of Mortgage Lenders said remortgaging was on the rise and that tends to be associated with equity withdrawal.

"I suspect the figure was indicative of the fact that equity withdrawal was buoyant during October."

Consumer credit, such as credit card borrowing, loans and hire purchase agreements, showed signs of slowing with a total of £16.23 billion lent during October, the lowest level for four months.

Once redemptions and repayments were taken into account consumer credit grew by £1.8 billion, compared with £2.05 billion in September.

The fall was largely driven by a sharp slowdown in credit card lending with outstanding debt on plastic rising £464 million during the month, the lowest figure since May and well down on September's jump of £714 million.

Consumers now owe a total of £46.18 billion on credit cards.