LONDON: Growth in Britain’s private sector has slowed to its weakest since March, an industry survey showed in another sign the rapid rebound over the past year is giving way to a more sustainable pace of expansion.

The Confederation of British Industry said its October growth indicator fell to +19, above its long-run average but weaker than last month’s balance of +23 and, along with March, the lowest reading since July 2013.

The CBI indicator comes after official data which showed that British gross domestic product expanded by 0.7 percent in the three months to September, down from 0.9 percent in the second quarter of 2014.

The CBI said it still expected quarterly growth next year of 0.6-0.7 percent, a shade above Britain’s historical rate.

“Despite all the international headwinds, it’s encouraging to see our surveys showing a steady expansion in the UK economy,” said the CBI’s director of economics, Rain Newton-Smith.

Slowing euro zone inflation and conflict in Ukraine and the Middle East have threatened British growth, the CBI said.

The survey is based on combining results from other CBI surveys of retailers, manufacturers and professional services companies, which together account for about three quarters of Britain’s private sector.

Also on Wednesday, the Bank of England said British lenders approved the fewest mortgages in more than a year last month, adding to signs that previously rapid growth in Britain’s housing market and the broader economy is slowing.

The Bank of England said mortgage approvals for house purchase fell to 61,267 in September from 64,054 in August — a bigger drop than economists had expected and the lowest total since July 2013.

Earlier this year BoE Governor Mark Carney said a potential build-up in household debt due to rising house prices posed the biggest domestic threat to Britain’s economic recovery. But now the housing market seems to be slowing faster than the BoE had been banking on.