Gross mortgage lending at £1.2 billion in February

LONDON (Reuters) - Gross mortgage lending by building societies stood at 1.214 billion pounds in February compared with 3.861 billion pounds a year earlier, industry figures showed on Monday.

The Building Societies Association also said that net receipts into building societies stood at 1.595 billion pounds in February, the highest for that month on record, and up 18 percent on a year earlier.

"The low levels of lending by building societies come as no surprise in view of the depressed levels of activity in the housing market," said Paul Broadhead, head of mortgage policy at the BSA.