Loans plummet in July

These figures were for both buyers and remortgagers, however lending not accounted for by house purchase or remortgaging (primarily made up of further advances and buy-to-let) rose to its highest-ever value - £7.8 billion - and accounted for 23% of the total, its highest ever proportion.

There were 94,000 loans for house purchase totalling £14.8 billion in July, and 92,000 remortgage loans totalling £11.5 billion.

The number of loans to first-time buyers fell by 7% from June to 32,400, and the value fell by 4% to £4.4 billion. Affordability for first-time buyers continued to worsen, with the typical first-time buyer income multiple rising to a record 3.39 in July, up from 3.37 the previous month and 3.23 a year earlier. First-time buyers taking out loans in July typically committed 19.7% of their income to pay their mortgage interest.

Fixed rates maintained their popularity in July, accounting for 79% of house purchase and remortgage loans. However the appetite for fixed rates may be on the wane if people believe that rates have now peaked.

Michael Coogan, CML director general, commented: "A slight fall in lending between June and July has emerged for the third year in a row, so of course we cannot read too much into a single month's figures. But the long-anticipated slowdown in the housing and mortgage markets may now be beginning to materialise.