The mortgage lending rate climbed by 6% last month, figures have shown.
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said that £9.2 billion was advanced to borrowers in February after the rate, hit by the end of the stamp duty holiday, plummeted by around a third in January.
Such a rise would normally be "unusual" for a February, the CML said, but added that the change to the stamp threshold had distorted the market.
Even with the increase, lending levels last month were the second lowest since February 2000, and 6% below the rate witnessed last year.
The slight rise was confirmed by the Bank of England, which reported that advances for house purchases had "picked up slightly" during the month. It added, however, that the number of people remortgaging remained low.
The Bank also claimed that while mortgage demand had "recovered somewhat" in February, some lenders said it remained weaker than expected
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