The UK property sector saw its strongest lending year to date in 2007 but the market is likely to weaken over the next 12 months, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has predicted.

The CML's figures revealed that gross mortgage lending was 5% higher in 2007 than the previous year, rising to a total of £362bn as the property market boomed.

But figures for December were down 25% - £22.6bn - on November's total, making it the weakest month since May 2005 and a sign that the market will tail off in 2008.

The CML blamed the global credit crunch for the downturn, which has made it far harder for lenders to borrow money from financial institutions.

"The recent decline in interbank lending rates and the prospect of further reductions in base rates in 2008 should provide some help to the market, although lending volumes are likely to remain weak for the next few months," predicted CML director general Michael Coogan.