LONDON (AP) — Mortgage lending in Britain has more than halved over the past year, according to the British Banker's Association — further evidence that the economic downturn is dramatically hurting the country's property market.

The number of new home mortgages approved in Britain was 52 percent lower in October than in the same month a year earlier, the industry group said yesterday.

Major British banks approved 21,584 mortgages for new house purchases in October, down from 45,105 in October of 2007, the association said. "Comparison of current lending levels with last year is obscured by the very different economic conditions that exist now, reflecting a much reduced appetite for borrowing," said David Dooks, the association's statistics director. The bankers' figures come a day after a Treasury-commissioned report forecast that new net mortgage lending is likely to fall below zero in 2009 for the first time ever.

The report, written by the former head of HBOS PLC bank, James Crosby, predicted that mortgage repayments and redemptions would be worth more than lending next year. Net mortgage lending is expected to come in at £40 billion ($60 billion) this year, and reached £108 billion in 2007.

"No new net mortgage lending across a full calendar year would be unprecedented and is likely to be associated with further weakness in consumer spending and an increase in unemployment," said Crosby.

Banks reacting to a global credit crunch have tightened up on lending, requiring larger deposits and higher rates of interest.