Its figures revealed that high LTV purchase approvals grew at twice the pace as the rest of the market in August.
However, e.surv said that, while the rise was encouraging, it should not be taken as a sign of the beginnings of long-term recovery, with high LTV approvals remaining at less than half of the high of 22% of all approvals recorded in August 2008.
Overall, purchase approvals rose to 49,566 in August, up marginally on July and 4.3% up on August 2010. This was the largest year-on-year rise since May 2010 and comes after a long-term trend of negative annual growth, e.surv found.
The easing of criteria has fuelled an increase in the number of lower income buyers, e.surv said, with approvals increasing across all price brackets below £750,000.
The greatest growth was seen in approvals for properties worth up to £125,000 – typical first-time buyer properties. They accounted for 24% of all approvals, the highest level since April.
The average LTV on this price bracket also increased from 67% in July to 68% in August.
Regionally, approvals in London fell 10% in August compared to July, an unusually poor month for the capital, e.surv said, driven by a decline in approvals for the most expensive property.
Meanwhile, approvals with an LTV of 85% and above accounted for just 4% of all approvals in London, with the capital recording an average deposit of 41.5% in August, the highest since January, and the highest in the country.
Richard Sexton, business development director of e.surv (pictured) said: “The uptick in high LTV lending is encouraging, and lenders may still be trying to garner market share. But we shouldn’t get too carried away and begin hailing this as a portent of long-term recovery.
“High LTV lending still lags well behind the levels we saw back in 2008 and a slight loosening in criteria only makes a small dent in the vast backlog of buyers stuck in the rental market.”
He added that high street lender remain constrained by weak economic growth and stringent core capital requirements.
Sexton said; “For those who can get mortgages, the good news is that fixed rate deals seem certain to remain particularly cheap.
“The UK has been like a fortress in repelling the international economic contagion, which is good news for borrowers as it means repayment rates will stay low for some time to come.”
