First-time buyers have benefited from a new wave of cheap mortgage deals, with surveyors estimating that the share of low deposit mortgages grew in August.

Figures from e.surv suggest that 28.3% of approvals last month were for low deposit mortgages, up from 27.9% in July.

The proportion of approvals to large deposit borrowers remained at 26.6%, with the remaining 45.1% going to those with a mid-market deposit.

The company estimates that there were 66,059 residential mortgages approved during August, down 1.9% on a monthly basis and up just 0.1% annually.

Richard Sexton, director at e.surv, said: “While mortgage rates have ticked up in the last couple of years, more recently deals have started to become cheaper.

“Swap rates, which are used by lenders to help price mortgage rates, have fallen, with lenders passing on these lower funding costs to consumers.

“The outcome has been a new wave of cut-price deals, which have tempted home owners and first-time buyers to market.”

Separately, a poll by Kensington Mortgages of 2,500 self-employed workers found that two-thirds are finding it difficult to get a mortgage, with a fifth of those renting now believing they will never get on the property ladder.

Respondents cited high house prices outstripping earnings and sporadic income as the main reasons they are getting rejected by mortgage lenders.

Despite this, Kensington Mortgages said self-employed mortgage borrowers are a safer bet than first-time buyers as they save more and typically borrow less.