But overall, mortgage approvals in 2009 were 27% lower than the previous year and the lowest since British Bankers’ Association records started in 1997.

Some 45,897 home loans were approved for house purchases last month.

This showed the extent of the recent recovery in the mortgage market as it was double that of December 2008.

Gross mortgage lending by the High Street banks rose from £9.6bn in November to £10.2bn in December.

This was also 12.5% higher than December 2008, and was boosted – according to the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) – by borrowers bringing loans forward before the stamp duty holiday came to an end.

The temporary stamp duty holiday on properties worth between £125,000 and £175,000 ended on 1 January 2010. It means buyers will again have to pay 1% tax on the value of homes worth more than £125,000.

According to the BBA, the level of those remortgaging remained low in December – at 23,480 – as people continued to choose to move to their lender’s standard variable rate (SVR), rather than move to a new fixed-rate deal when their term came to an end.