Last year went mostly unchanged compared with 2009 for Scotland’s mortgage approval figures, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). Almost 47,000 mortgage loans were approved in 2010.

Loan to value mortgage transactions in Scotland averaged 74%, compared with the UK average rate of 73%. Scotland lending overall accounted for almost 10% of the total UK lending in both 2009 and 2010.

The fourth quarter saw lending for mortgages drop off by 22% in Scotland. Remortgaging also plunged by 13% compared with the third quarter.

First time buyers figures can also be added to the list of slow performers during the fourth quarter of 2010. Only 3,800 loans were approved, which is down 22% from the third quarter. Compared with the fourth quarter of 2009, the figures for the first timers were down 31%.

Kennedy Foster, CML Scotland policy consultant, commented on the basis for the figures, saying: "The root causes of the shortage of funding, increased capital requirements, particularly for high loan to value lending, and a lack of competition are constraining the market in Scotland, as in the rest of the UK."

Chief executive of Homes for Scotland, Jonathan Fair, commented on the demise of the market figures, saying: "These statistics show a mortgage market still in decline, particularly as far as first time buyers, our industry's lifeblood, are concerned."

He added: "With more than a 50% fall in the number of home purchase loans since 2007, the stark reality is that as many as 146,000 Scots households have been prevented from accessing the home of their choice."