For those lucky first-time buyers who can raise the cash there are some great little properties out there, as Helen Geraghty reports.

Kent’s estate agents have called for banks and building societies to step up loans to buyers as new figures show the number of mortgages approved has dropped again.

Bank of England figures for October show that just 32,000 mortgages were approved, 1,000 fewer than in the previous month. The figure now reflects a drop of 74 per cent in the number of mortgage approvals since this time last year.

Neil Boswell, treasurer for the Kent branch of National Association of Estate Agents and Canterbury-based director of Caxtons estate agency, said: "A factor holding the market back is this supply of funding. The problem is the banks won’t lend.

"For example there are very few first-time buyers in the market. That is a shame as there are some good prices around, such as two-bedroom mid-terraces in Canterbury for around £150,000. This time last year they would have been snapped up.

"It is quite difficult out there but we are still selling. I am still selling to buy-to-let investors and to parents investing in properties for their sons and daughters at university.

"Some investors are selling and some are buying, but as for the general domestic market, it is very subdued."

Mr Boswell said the trickiest properties to sell now were small flats as there was a large number on the market and they were competing with low-priced small houses.

He estimated property prices in Canterbury had dropped by between 15 and 20 per cent in the last 18 months.

The Bank of England figures showed £459 million was lent in October, the second lowest figure since 1993.

Adrian Coles, director general of the Building Societies Association, said: "With confidence in the market so restrained, homeowners are choosing to stay put rather than move, while first-time buyers continue to wait for further falls in prices."

Mortgage industry experts have warned the Government there could be no fresh lending at all in 2009 unless steps are taken to boost the lending ability of banks and building societies.