Rise in applications for first-time buyer loans

December saw 24,900 applications for first-time buyer loans - the highest number since November 2007 - new figures have revealed.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders announced that 55% of purchases were on properties under £175,000 in a move that the organisation noted was due to the end of the stamp duty concession.

Bob Pannell, author of the research, said that with 90% of loans advanced in the month being repayment mortgages, it was necessary to take capital payments into account when gauging affordability.

The number of house purchase loans in 2009 was 517,000 - just over half the 2007 level of 1,015,100 - and there were 318,700 home-mover loans in the same time period, which is a slight decrease from the previous year.

It was recently revealed that 24% of inspectors questioned by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) thought that an improvement in house sales in the next three months was a possibility.