Net lending fell to £318m, down from £1.85bn, a massive and unexpected drop, leaving it at its lowest since July 2009. What's to blame? Some say the end of the Stamp Duty holiday, which created an artificial divide between one month and the next. Others blame the weather. Either way, it sheds a new light on the so-called "recovery". It's hard to see how a house price recovery can take place against the backdrop of shrinking lending.

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