The steam has well and truly gone out of the UK residential property market leaving the industry with a cold chill.

There has been a 64% year on year plummet in new mortgage approvals being written according to figures released by the Bank of England yesterday.

The end of access to cheap debt has pulled the carpet from under the industry as consumer confidence and the ability to service new debt has taken a sharp turn for the worse.

The Bank of England announced 42,000 home loans were approved in May – a 28% drop on the previous month and the worst data since records began in 1993.

The value of mortgage approvals is almost half of what it was in May last year, dropping from £4.59 billion in May 07 to £2.34 billion in the same month this year.

Against the backdrop of higher interest rates and the realisation property is not an asset class that defies all the basic concepts of basic economics, is the fact inflation (as in many other countries) is on the rise.

UK residents pay some of the highest prices in the world for petrol, gas and electricity.

The fact the country is in the throws of summer should reduce the impact on families for energy, however once autumn and then winter arrives households are going to feel a cold pinch in more ways than one.