The number of mortgages granted to house buyers hit a 22-month high in October, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).

It said 55,300 mortgages were granted to buyers, the highest number since December 2007.

This was a 9% increase from September, and up 43% from October last year.

The CML said mortgage lending to buyers had now doubled since its low point in January this year, but remortgaging was still very subdued.

“It appears that low interest rates for those with substantial deposits, coupled with this year’s sustained increases in house prices, are encouraging more people to buy or move home,” said the CML’s director general Michael Coogan.

“But the same low interest rates that are driving house purchase activity provide little incentive for borrowers to refinance their loans.”

First-time buyers are still having to put down average deposits of 25%, the CML’s figures show, despite a gentle easing of the industry’s mortgage rationing in the past few months.