Borrowers with smaller deposits accounted for the largest portion of house purchase lending in five months in February.
Home buyers with deposits of up to 15% of the total value of their property accounted for 16.9% of mortgage approvals last month, a significant proportional increase from 15.3% in January and just 13.9% in December.
The latest Mortgage Monitor data also reveals that 10,300 higher LTV loans were approved in February – a 10.7% month-on-month increase compared with January.
Data from property property services firm LSL also shows that average UK house prices were 6.8% higher in February than they were in the same month last year, with London and the south east continuing to lead national house price growth des¬pite slowing substantially.