Continued evidence of a faltering housing market emerged today withCouncil of Mortgage Lenders (CML) figures showing the number of first-time buyers plummeted by 42% year-on-year to 14,500 in December.

The number of first-time buyers in December fell by 3% from November giving a total of 194,600 loans granted to first-time buyers last year – down 1% in number on 2009's 198,200, and vastly lower than the average of 600,000 first-time buyers who bought a home 10 years ago.

The figures also showed that the total number of loans for house purchase fell 4% in December to 39,900. In total, 529,300 house purchase loans and 313,200 loans for remortgages were advanced last year. The CML, which yesterday also said home repossessions had fallen for the fourth month running, claimed its figures showed evidence of a stable but subdued mortgage market last year.

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