Help to Buy lifts high loan-to-mortgage loans

More evidence has emerged of the dramatic effect that Help to Buy is having on the UK mortgage market.

Research from e.surv, the UK's largest chartered surveyor, has found there has been a dramatic rise in the number of high loan-to-value mortgage loans made over the past year.

High loan-to-value loans occur when buyers put down a relatively small deposit say of 5 or 10 per cent of a property's selling price. In recent years such loans have become hard to attain as banks have reined in lending. However, with the advent of the Government's Help to Buy scheme – which effectively underwrites certain high loan-to-value loans – the numbers of these mortgages being bought has shot up 60 per cent year on year.

Richard Sexton, director of e.surv said: "There is still a long road to travel before the mortgage market is fully recovered, but the recovery is quickening and it is now far easier to take out a mortgage with a smaller deposit saved.

"High loan-to-value lending should continue its recovery in the coming months, but it's important that Help to Buy remains in place to help support borrowers in building a deposit, enabling them to access better rates, and cheaper deals."