Net mortgage lending could fall to zero next year, lenders have told ministers.

This means that the amount lent by banks to home buyers would be no more than the amount repaid by home buyers to banks.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said last week that net lending in 2008 would slump to £40bn, compared with more than £110bn last year. But Roger Humber, strategic policy adviser to the House Builders Association (HBA), said CML representatives were telling ministers that it could fall to nothing in 2009. That would be the first time this has happened since the CML started collecting the data in 1987.

Humber’s comments came as the HBA sent a letter to chancellor Alistair Darling urging him to support the CML’s plans to guarantee mortgage lending by issuing government-backed bonds. Humber said: “We could be looking at zero net lending next year, which would be catastrophic. The government providing a guarantee could get the market moving again.”

A spokesperson for the CML said the agency had not made an official net-lending forecast for 2009, but admitted a zero figure was possible. She said: “It could even go negative – all bets are off – but we haven’t got a full picture ready yet.”