LONDON, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Mortgage approvals in Britain were almost 4 percent lower on the year in December, numbering 33,636, seasonally adjusted data from the British Bankers' Association showed on Thursday.

Net mortgage lending grew by 580 million pounds last month.

DEC NOV DEC 2011

Net mortgage lending: 580 217 482

(change, mln stg)

DEC NOV DEC 2011

Number of loans approved:

House purchase 33,636 33,551 34,910

Remortgaging 17,698 18,722 20,855

Other secured lending 10,653 10,516 15,594

BBA statistics director David Dooks said: '2012 was a year of holding on to deposits and repaying debt for companies and households... Slow economic growth also continued to suppress new borrowing demand from consumers and from companies, where bond issuance was preferred to bank finance.

'Credit availability increased and pricing reduced towards the year-end as banks developed product offerings using the Funding for Lending Scheme, which is expected to bring further benefits to households and businesses in 2013.'

(UK economics desk, uk.economics@reuters.com, Tel. +44 20 7542 2774)

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