The group said that there have been modest improvements across key areas of the market, despite ongoing economic difficulties.
Its figures showed that the average LTV applied for in July reached its highest for more than three years, at 75% compared to 71% in July last year.
In addition, the average rate for purchase mortgage applications dropped by 0.9% in the month to 4.22% compared to 5.32% for July 2010.
Countrywide saw house buyer enquiries and viewings rise modestly in July, by 0.3% and 0.7% respectively, leading to a 2.2% increase in the number of house sales agreed compared to June.
However, year-on-year, all three categories showed notable drops. New buyer enquiries were down 8% on July 2010, viewings were down 7% and sales were down 1.8%.
In addition, while the number of people putting their houses up for sale remained stable in July, new instructions were down 20% on the same period of last year.
Nevertheless, Countrywide said that the stability in new instructions highlights that serious house sellers with realistic price expectations remain confident.
Countrywide’s ten most popular deals for residential mortgage applications were all fixed rates, compared to 67% of all buy-to-let mortgage applications. This was down 9% on June, showing property investors are taking advantage of increasingly competitive variable rates.
Meanwhile, tenant demand for rental property continued to increase, with the number of property viewings by tenants rising for the fourth consecutive month, up by 6% in July. Yet, this was down 2.8% year-on-year.
In addition, new tenant registrations remain high, Countrywide said, with four tenants competing for each rental property. The number of rental properties rose 0.9% on June and were up 16% on July 2010.
Grenville Turner, chief executive of Countrywide, said: “The housing market continues to be robust with both transaction volumes and sale prices remaining broadly stable.
“As the UK economy continues to face considerable challenges, lending volumes are not likely to substantially improve until well into 2012.
“The size of the deposit remains the biggest issue facing consumers, not affordability of the loan itself. Whilst lenders offer increasingly competitive rates to potential borrowers, more help with the size of their deposit would be more attractive right now.”
