LONDON (Reuters) - Mortgage approvals for house purchase fell to a series low of 32,000 in August while mortgage lending slumped to its lowest level in more than 15 years, the Bank of England said on Monday.

****************************************************

ANALYST COMMENT

PHILIP SHAW, INVESTEC

"The approvals have fallen to a new low but what's especially striking is that the drop off in approvals in recent months is now feeding through to net mortgage lending which barely increased over the month.

"It's quite possible that given current market conditoons that the stockpile of mortgages actually falls back given the continued strains created by the credit crunch."

KEY POINTS

- Weakest total net lending since April 1993 when it was

1.333 billion