Compared to June of this year, July saw stable figures for house purchases and the rise of remortgaging, however, loans to first-time buyers continued to drop, according to a survey from the Council of Mortgage Lenders. The number of loans taken out by first-time buyers has fallen nearly 50 per cent compared to figures from last year. Loans have dropped to 17,300 due to the tighter lending criteria that many lenders are now following, meaning that they have suffered a fall of 48 per cent.