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This week statistics from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and the Council of Mortgage Lenders showed first-time buyers have not temporarily retreated from the housing battlefield but have pretty much disappeared completely.

On one side of the housing battlefield are those trying to sell their homes, many of whom are so entrenched in the belief property prices should only soar and never fall they have convinced themselves the roof above their head is still worth the same as at the end of 2007.

On the other side there are those looking to downsize in the current economic climate of soaring fuel bills, the odd professional buy-to-let investor picking up the occasional bargain and very few others standing alongside them.

Rics reported the number of UK surveyors reporting falls in property prices rose for the ninth month in a row in April. Around 95 per cent more surveyors reported house prices fell rather than rose in April and that figure was up from 79.4 per cent in March.

Surveyors said there had also been a continued fall in enquiries from prospective buyers.

The CML reported mortgage lending for house purchase remained subdued in March but remortgaging levels held up well in the face of funding constraints. The number of loans for house purchase declined to 46,500 in March, down 1 per cent from 47,200 in February and 48 per cent from 89,000 in March 2007.

Even in March, as the number of high loan-to-value deals plummeted, the CML reported the average first-time buyer borrowed 89 per cent of the property's value and 3.35 times their income in the first quarter of 2008, down from 90 per cent and up from 3.32 in the first quarter of 2007.

Research from Mform.co.uk showed average loan-to-values on the most competitive deals are now around 85 per cent and the number of lenders willing to offer 95 per cent LTVs has fallen dramatically as the mortgage market has tightened criteria.

Looking at the emptying battlefield that is the mortgage sector for house purchase gives me the feeling lenders have been so focused on fighting the government for funds that they failed to make sure fresh blood could continue to come to the housing market.

While house prices going down has been good news for potential first-time buyers in the past, I would argue it is not in the current climate as it has been coupled with lenders demanding greater deposits from a generation that failed to set cash aside for a rainy day and lived off credit.

But Mform claimed all is not lost as homebuyers squeezed by tighter lending rules can still beat the credit crunch by teaming up for applications. Around 46 per cent of lenders will still allow multiple borrowers on an application with four people the typical maximum number.

However some lenders set no limit on how many people can make an application, the online mortgage company said. Up to 42 mortgage companies lending direct to the public allow multiple borrowers on home loan applications with the amount customers can borrow usually based on the two highest incomes.

Lenders who allow multiple applications range from regional building societies to Abbey, HSBC, Woolwich and Cheltenham & Gloucester.

However anyone signing up for a mortgage with a number of other borrowers has to be careful they are clear on exactly what they are doing. If the mortgage market is to clearly pick up again then perhaps lenders need to return to the battle of attracting first-time buyers.

Emma Ann Hughes is editor of Mortgage Adviser