Mortgage approvals and net mortgage lending in the UK both slipped in April after hitting near two-year highs the previous month, figures from the British Bankers' Association showed. Mortgage approvals for house purchase fell to 64,683 over the month after March's sharp jump to 85,698, the BBA said in the final release of provisional figures published last week. The BBA attributed much of the fall, however, to the lower number of working days in April than in March and said approvals remain in line with recent trends. "Mortgage approvals were predictably weak in April due to there being fewer working days. However, after allowing for working day effects, approvals were much in line with expectations," said David Dooks, director of statistics at the BBA. Meanwhile, net mortgage lending rose by 4.88 bln stg in April, down on March's figure of 5.51 bln stg, which was the highest figure since June 2004 when house prices were soaring. The figure is in line with the average of 5.0 bln stg over recent months, the BBA said. Gross morgage lending also dropped to 15.5 bln stg in April from 17.67 in March but was still comfortably above February's reading of 14.03 bln. Unsecured lending remained subdued, however, with net lending on loans and overdrafts up by 0.2 bln stg in April, reversing March's 0.2 bln fall and comparing with an average of +0.3 bln stg over the previous six months. Net lending on credit cards rose by 0.1 bln stg, compared with a fall of 0.2 bln in March and a recent average increase of 0.1 bln stg.