The mortgage market is creaking along, with just 9% of offers being issued in under five days – compared with 13% last year and 25% two years ago.

Fewer than half of mortgage offers are made in under a fortnight – 44% compared with 56% last year.

One in five mortgage offers now take more than 30 days to come through, and in total, nearly 40% of mortgage applications do not proceed to offer at all.

The findings come from finance and mortgages company IRESS, which says that the whole mortgage application process has “significantly” slowed down since the Mortgage Market Review at the end of April.

The MMR has imposed strict affordability checks on lenders, meaning that some applicants endure three-hour interviews which delve into their spending habits and job prospects.

The findings come as one major lender, Santander, announced a pilot scheme where it will use desktop valuations to speed up the severe valuation delays which are also responsible for slowing the mortgage market.

Santander will use an Automated Valuation Model to calculate property valuations.

The bank says it will only use AVMs for certain types of property and if the AVM down-values the property, it will send a surveyor to value it.

A Santander spokesperson said: “This approach will offer an improved customer experience, ensuring consistency and cutting property valuation times. It will also free up valuers’ capacity so they can focus on more complex cases.”