Aggregate figures from the British Banker’s Association (BBA) released this week show that the number of mortgages approved for house buyers by the UK’s main banks fell by 10% in 2010. The BBA says that over the course of the year its members approved almost exactly 400,000 mortgages between them.

With the exception of 2008, the year the credit crunch bit, 2010 had the lowest number of mortgage approvals for 11 years. The number was depressed by both a lack of supply and demand in the mortgage market.

The BBA said unsecured lending, such as credit cards and bank loans, was also depressed with net lending reducing by £2bn as households demonstrated a reduced appetite for credit due to the uncertain environment for employment and the wider economy.

The BBA’s figures serve to underline the subdued state of the UK property market. Last week, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) reported that the value all new mortgage lending, including remortgaging and equity withdrawal, fell to its lowest level for nine years in 2010.

At the same time, HM Revenue & Customs has stated that the number of homes sold in the UK during 2010 stood at just 885,000. Although this was 27,000 more than the previous year, it was just over half of the peak recorded in 2006 and 2007.

It has been no secret that the past 12 months were difficult for the UK property market and these latest batches of released figures put that into statistical perspective. There are signs that 2011 will be better but hardly the street party the more optimistic had hoped for.

Government initiatives to increase lending will ease the demand side problems while the slowly increasing prices coupled with the sheer length of the downturn will hopefully draw more houses onto the market on the supply side.

One this that is painfully clear is that 2011 is not going to herald the joyous return to the freewheeling days of 2006 and 2007. It now seems clearer than ever that we have witnessed a long term and structural change to the UK housing market.

Worrying, although unsurprising, research published this week has shown that men are less likely than women to seek help regarding their debt problems. This is despite the fact, or a reason why, men are at much greater risk of bankruptcy and house repossession.

Women contacted two debt charities for advice in greater numbers than men last year, figures have shown. 63% of people contacting the Christians Against Poverty group, which has 150 church-based debt counselling centres in the UK, were women.

The Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS) said it had also received more calls from women, even though men were more likely to become insolvent.

But single men have built up greater debts than women on their own and during the past decade more men have entered into bankruptcy or sought official agreements to repay debts.

The latest figures from the Insolvency Service shows that in 2008, 37,972 men went bankrupt compared with 23,173 women.

Financial analysts cannot answer the complex anthropological questions of whether women are more pragmatic or men have more determination to sort things out on their own. However, it should be clear to anyone that it is awful to live in debt, to be hounded by creditors and feel that you are losing control of your life.

It is also worth noting figures from the CCCS which show that, of those who called the charity, couples faced the highest average debt, at just over £30,000. This was followed by single men, with an average debt of £19,830, and single women at £16,937.

Debt charities consider this time of the year to be their busiest, as many people find themselves in financial trouble when credit card bills from Christmas spending arrive. As always, people who find themselves in financial trouble are advised to seek help from independent financial advisors, and to do it sooner rather than later.