By Jon Sindreu

LONDON--The number of new home loans approved in the U.K. rose in February to its highest level in six months, suggesting the British housing market may be ready to rally again after cooling in the final months of 2014.

British banks approved 61,760 mortgages for property purchases during the month, the Bank of England said Monday, compared with 60,707 in January. The overall value of mortgage loans also ticked up to 1.7 billion pounds ($2.6 billion) from GBP1.6 billion.

This is a fresh sign that property prices in the U.K. could soon start accelerating. Although figures released last week by British lender Nationwide showed the housing market continued to soften in March, other indicators for mortgage lending suggest interest in buying homes is on the up again. A steep climb in prices during the first half of 2014 was followed by a slowdown as the year came to an end.

By contrast, the pace of credit to consumers took a small but unexpected dip in February--consumer credit rose GBP0.7 billion compared with GBP0.8 billion in January. Economists were expecting the pace of lending to continue accelerating. Business lending also cooled, the Bank of England said, although it showed indications of improving for small firms.

Write to Jon Sindreu at jon.sindreu@wsj.com