Mortgage lending growth in the 13-country eurozone has slowed to the lowest for more than three years as higher interest rates begin to bite, according to European Central Bank figures.

The steady deceleration in lending for house purchases over the past year will cheer the ECB, which has been wary of the damaging effects of a possible abrupt correction. At 8.6 per cent in April, down from 8.9 per cent in March, the annual growth rate was the lowest since November 2003.