Independent mortgage broker AFG has reported "promising signs" in the first home buyer market as the 17 year old First Home Owner Grant scheme, introduced to offset the effect of the GST on home ownership, is under review.The latest AFG data, covering the third fiscal quarter of the 2016/17 year, shows positive signs, with lodgements for mortgages by first home buyers back up to ten per cent for the first time since the first fiscal quarter of 2014 (ie, the three months to September 2014).In overall lodgement numbers, AFG has reported a lift of eight per cent over 3Q 2016, primarily due to increasing activity by upgraders. APRA-imposed lender policy changes have had an impact on both the investor market and refinancers, however, as many lenders are lifting interest rates and tightening credit policy for borrowers. Investor loans dropped from 34 per cent to 32 per cent across the quarter, and refinance requests have also been impacted, with that segment of the market down from 38 per cent to 35 per cent last quarter - its lowest level since the third quarter of 2015.One trend that should please the regulators is a drop in the loan to value ratio across all states - apart from South Australia, where a marginal increase of 0.4 per cent was evident.  The national LVR is now down to 68.6 per cent, AFG data shows.