Gross lending by building societies was subdued in August at £1.5bn as funds for mortgage lending remained unavailable.

Mortgage lending bounced back last month after falling into the negative for the first time on record in July, latest figures from the Bank of England (BoE) show.

HSBC is making an additional £0.5bn of mortgage funding available to homebuyers with deposits of 10%.

The FSA has proposed a ban on exploitative advertising and high-pressure sales techniques by sale and rent back (SRB) firms.

Saffron Building Society has decided to suspend new lending on equity release after reaching a satisfactory level of lending.

The Government should turn Northern Rock back into a mutual to avoid a repeat of the credit crunch, according to the Building Societies Association (BSA).

Abbey for Intermediaries (AfI) has announced it is launching a mortgage range for brokers which offers free legal and valuation services.

Wall Street shares were relatively flat in early morning trading as investors locked in profits as they await the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision later today.

The number of mortgages approved by major banks in August is up by 81% over the past year, figures from the British Bankers' Association (BBA) show.

The UK economy has begun to emerge from recession but growth next year will be fragile, a forecast by business group the CBI has warned.