It appeared today that in the month of July, the number of loans made to homebuyers displayed its first annual growth, for the first time in two years. This came as the fresh proof of a jump in Britain's tattered property market.

As per the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), the total number of loans made to homebuyers in July was 56,000 - which marked a 24% increase on June; and a 19% increase on the July figures a year earlier.

The July's annual gain was described by CML as the first "material" rise since February 2007, during which the number of mortgages hiked by almost 6% on the previous year. Apart from this, a rise in total gross lending, which includes lending for home purchases and remortgaging, also hiked for the second consecutive month to £14.5 billion.

"It's tempting to call the turn in the mortgage market at this point, and there is certainly concrete evidence that lending for house purchase is increasing. But there are still constraints affecting the lending industry's capacity to fund increased lending, as well as less consumer motivation to remortgage for the time being," said CML chief economist Paul Samter

He added: "There is certainly concrete evidence that lending for house purchase is increasing. But there are still constraints affecting the lending industry's capacity to fund increased lending as well as less consumer motivation to remortgage for the time being. The overall lending picture is likely to stay relatively subdued for some time, especially as the wider economy is far from robust yet."

In May 2007, the number of home loans hiked year-on-year, but it was described as immaterial by CML, since the rise was really small. In the month of June, gross lending hiked from £12.7 billion. But the £14.5 billion figure fell far short of last July's £24.9 billion.

"First-time buyers continued to return to the market, with their numbers rising by 18% compared with the previous month to 20,400 - the sixth consecutive increase and the highest number since December 2007. But for the sixth month running people buying their first home with a mortgage put down an average deposit of 25% of their property's value, reflecting the hefty deposits lenders continue to demand," said Samter.

(via To