The number of deals available on the market has risen to 2053, compared to 1209 in April 2009, according to the financial website. A significant boost occurred since the turn of the year, with the number of products leaping by 28%. Higher LTV mortgages have witnessed the biggest percentage increase, as lenders relax their credit criteria.

Products at 95% LTV have risen by 333% since April 2009 from 3 to 13, while those at 90% LTV have increased by 114% from 71 to 152.

Michelle Slade, spokesperson for Moneyfacts, said: “Increased availability brings competition, and the mortgage market is finally seeing some of the most competitive deals of the last few years.

Lenders are becoming more accommodating with their criteria, which bodes well for increasing the competitiveness of the mortgage market.”

Darren Cohen, mortgage consultant at broker LRG, said he believed the growing trend of more products will continue for the rest of the year.

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He said: “The stabilisation of the housing market has meant that lenders are more confident in offering higher LTV deals. More lenders are coming into the mortgage market and are offering decent deals and this has led to an increase in enquiries from clients with smaller deposits.”

Wayne Unsworth, independent financial adviser at Hallmark IFA, welcomed the increase, but added that borrowers with small deposits or little equity are finding that choice is still limited.

He said: “Lenders are quite strict in their affordability criteria and credit checks, which is making it very hard for many people to access the good deals. Homeowners still need sizeable deposits to access most of the best products. The market will not function properly until criteria is loosened significantly.”