First-time buyers saw their share of the mortgage market increase in June, surveyors predict.

The latest e.surv Mortgage Monitor estimates that first-time buyers made up 23.4% of the market last month, up from 22.4% in May.

Larger deposit borrowers – those with mortgages of up to 60% loan-to-value – also saw their share increase from 32.8% to 32.9% over the month, while the mid-market – those putting down up to 25% – experienced a drop from 44.8% in May to 43.7% in June.

Surveyors estimate that there were 66,345 mortgage approvals in total during the month.

First-time buyers made up the biggest share in Yorkshire, accounting for 33.7% of home loans.

The London market remained the most difficult for first-time buyers to get a foothold into. Just 16.2% of loans in the capital went to borrowers with small deposits,lower than anywhere else in the country.

Meanwhile, Northern Ireland displaced London as the part of the UK with the highest proportion of buyers with large deposits.

In this region 39.8% of all approvals were to large deposit borrowers, ahead of London where the figure was 38.5%.

Richard Sexton, director at e.surv, said: “Benign market conditions mean this has already been an excellent summer for small deposit borrowers, and this good form has continued into June.

“It really is a postcode lottery as to the local market you experience. Areas of London and the south-east continue to be dominated by cash buyers and those with large deposits.

“Yet the opposite is true in areas of northern England, where there are better opportunities for those with small deposits to get on to the property ladder.

“But with lenders offering low rates across the whole country, now is a good time to lock into a cheap mortgage deal before rates eventually begin to rise once more.”