Official figures show that UK mortgage approvals for home buyers fell to a seven-month low in August, while lending to consumers unexpectedly dropped.
The Bank of England said mortgage approvals numbered 47,372 in August, down from 48,346 in July. The figure was broadly in line with analysts' forecasts and a weaker industry survey last week.
Consumers unexpectedly made a net repayment of unsecured debt in August. Net consumer credit fell by £120m, the biggest drop since November 2009. Analysts had forecast a rise.
Separate figures showed that UK service sector output fell for the second month running in July, in a gloomy signal for economic growth in the third quarter.
The Office for National Statistics said that service sector output fell by 0.2% in July after a similar fall in June. That left services output 1.2% higher than a year earlier, down from the 1.4% growth in June.
The fall on the month was driven by decline in the output of the 'business services and finance' and 'government and other services' categories. The hotels and restaurants category showed strong growth of 0.8%.
With services making up around 75% of the economy, the latest figures are likely to boost expectations that the economy is set to slow down considerably in the second half of the year.
Overall GDP rose by 1.2% in the second quarter but most economists expect that to be the high water mark before a planned budgetary tightening puts the brakes on the recovery from the worst recession since World War 2.
