Home buyer hopefuls with small deposits are being squeezed out of the market.

Mortgages to small deposit buyers fell in June despite the wider market growing.

Valuation firm e.surv is predicting that the proportion of home loans to those with small deposits of up to 15% fell from 21.3% in May to 18.5% in June.

In contrast, those approvals to those with larger deposits, defined as 40% or more, accounted for 34.5% of the total market, up on 33.9% in May.

The proportion of loans to smaller deposit borrowers are still up on the 16.1% recorded in December 2016, but the figure has been falling since a high of 21.5% in April.

The research identified Yorkshire as the region with the highest proportion of small deposit borrowers at 28.1% while London has the lowest at 14.3%.

The higher numbers of smaller loans in June were found towards the north of the UK.

The proportion of smaller loans was 19.8% in Scotland, 20.6% in the Midlands, 25.7% in Northern Ireland and 26.3% in the North-West.

There were 65,887 loans approved during June, compared with the 64,645 in May, according to e.surv’s forecasts which are based on its own valuation data.

Richard Sexton, director of e.surv chartered surveyors, said: “Most people don’t choose which region to live in based on the chances of their mortgage being approved. But if they did, Yorkshire would surely come top of the pile for most first-time buyers.

“Lower property prices and greater mortgage approval chances make the region a great place to get on to the ladder if you have a small deposit.

“Conversely, Londoners continue to struggle with less than 15% of all loans going to these buyers this month. Those with a small deposit face an uphill struggle in the capital.”