Mortgage approvals fell for the fifth consecutive month in November, tumbling to a three-year low as demand from new homebuyers continued to decline.

In the latest symptom of rapidly cooling conditions in the once-booming housing market, Bank of England figures showed that the overall number of new home loans agreed, including those for remortgaging, had plunged by 26 per cent from a year earlier to 238,000.

Mortgages for house purchase, a key indicator of the health of the housing market, fell even more sharply, dropping by 37 per cent from levels a year earlier to only 83,000 – the lowest figure since January 2005.

Economists noted that this left the number of loans agreed for house purchase only 6,000 above lows plumbed in November 2004, and dangerously close to levels that in the past have been associated with year-on-year declines in house prices.

“This is further evidence of a sharp downturn in activity in the housing market,” Simon Rubinsohn, chief economist at the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, said. “We expect buyer interest to remain flat over the coming months as concerns persist over the outlook both for the economy and, more specifically, house prices.”

Gary Styles, economics director at Hometrack, the housing data group, said: “Approvals are going to continue to move down gently in the coming months as much of the adjustment has occurred, but we can expect this to lead to very weak actual lending figures from banks from February or March.”

The downturn in the housing market since September has heightened speculation that the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee will order further cuts in interest rates, perhaps as soon as next week, after last month’s quarter-point reduction. Pressure on the Bank to deliver a further cut in borrowing costs was ratcheted up this week after its latest survey of credit conditions showed that lenders had “reduced materially” the availability of mortgages in the closing months of last year and planned to tighten lending conditions still further.

Yesterday’s Bank data contained yet more evidence of a tougher climate for would-be homebuyers seeking loans. The figures highlighted a sharp drop in mortgage approvals by specialist lenders other than banks and building societies. Such lenders have been an important prop for the housing market, handing out loans to buy-to-let speculators as well as “sub-prime” borrowers with poorer credit ratings.

The subdued lending figures came as the Nationwide Building Society, which reported last week that average national house prices had fallen by 0.5 per cent in December, said that its regional data confirmed a slowdown across all UK regions.

The most dramatic slowdown was in Northern Ireland, where prices were rising at an annual pace of 55 per cent in the first half of last year. A 0.2 per cent drop in prices in the province during the final quarter of last year cut annual house price inflation there to a still strong 24.2 per cent. Prices fell by 0.2 per cent in the fourth quarter in Yorkshire, but all other regions continued to show price gains.