According to the report, house purchase approval numbers of 40,347 were 3.3% lower than May 2016 and slightly down on the monthly average of 41,923 over the previous six months.
Gross mortgage borrowing in May totalled £13.3bn, which the BBA says is "much in line with recent months" and 9% higher than a year before. Net mortgage borrowing in May was 2.4% higher than a year ago.
The annual growth in personal deposits continued on the downward path seen since September last year and at 2.6% is the lowest annual growth rate since December 2011.
ISA cash deposits with the high street banks fell by £0.7bn in May compared with a fall £0.6bn in May 2016 and the annual growth rate declined.
Eric Leenders, BBA Managing Director for Retail Banking, said: “This month’s figures show that in the run up to the General Election, credit growth in personal loans, cards and overdrafts has slowed, which was reflected in lower spending; with increased household costs affecting growth in deposits and saving."
Jeremy Leaf, north London estate agent and a former RICS residential chairman, says: "At first glance you might think the BBA figures are quite encouraging but when you consider what was happening 12 months ago, one realises that they are not quite as impressive as they might seem. Last May the housing market was still reeling from the imposition of the 3 per cent stamp duty surcharge on second homes so we would have expected approval numbers to have been considerably above where they were this time last year.
Looking forward, there is no indication that we will see a bigger correction in the property market, just a continuation of what we have seen over the past few months - more cautious trading and more realism among buyers and sellers."
