The latest Bank of England Money and Credit figures, have revealed that loan approvals for house purchases totalled 70,410 in November 2015. This was compared to an average of 68,428 across the previous six months.

Meanwhile, remortgaging approval numbers reached 39,161, in line with the average over the previous six months.

Richard Sexton, director of chartered surveyor e.surv, said: “Mortgage lending remains stable as it continues to benefit from the improving economic climate. Overall lending in November was up by circa 3% compared to the previous six months, with remortgaging levels delivering a healthy contribution to the total.

“For first-time buyers, 2016 may bring both opportunities and hurdles. Those looking to get on to the property ladder should be encouraged by consistent lending levels, but small deposit borrowers need to remain a priority for lenders.

“A stable market and measures such as MMR and Help to Buy continue to play their part – however increases in house prices and any upward movement in interest rates later in the year would create challenges particularly for the first-time buyer sector.”

Richard Pike, Phoebus Software sales and marketing director, added: “The Bank of England’s data today confirms, as estimated by the CML in December, that despite the large pick up in approvals in October, there are few signs of a slowing market.

“As we head into the new year this is a positive sign for the housing market and the economy as a whole. It will be interesting to see what the figures reveal for December, but going on recent activity, and reports from the intermediary market, there was little in the way of a dip before Christmas.”