By Christina Fincher

LONDON (Reuters) - Approvals for new home loans rose in December from a record low, data showed on Monday, but analysts said this did not portend a housing market recovery.

The British Bankers' Association said 22,051 mortgages were approved last month, up from November's record low of 17,339 but almost 50 percent lower than the same month last year.

"The tick up in December is nothing more than a release in pent-up demand," said BBA statistics director David Dooks. "I don't think it's reflective of a recovery. What the numbers are showing is a reflection of the recession. The mortgage market is dead apart from those people who have to move. The lending is not there."

House prices fell around 16 percent last year as the credit crisis made it harder and more expensive to get finance. Despite unprecedented action to try to get credit flowing through the economy, most experts are forecasting another double-digit decline in 2009.

The number of mortgages approved for house purchase for 2008 as a whole was less than half that of the previous year, highlighting the extent to which banks have cut back on lending in an attempt to repair their overstretched balance sheets.

MORTGAGE COLLAPSE

The collapse of the securitised debt markets, which accounted for two thirds of mortgage finance during the housing market boom, has sent shockwaves throughout the economy.

Unemployment has soared in recent months as banks have pulled credit lines, forcing companies to make dramatic cost cuts.