The number of mortgage approvals in the UK this July were 4.9% lower than in the same month in 2015, according to valuation firm e.surv.

A total of 65,907 mortgage approvals were issued to buyers during July, the firm has calculated.

This figure was a significant drop from the 73,060 and 72,512 approvals recorded in January and February, respectively, this year.

Although e.surv notes these figures could been “artificially boosted” by buyers making purchases ahead of the Stamp Duty tax changes in April.

Richard Sexton , director of e.surv, said lenders and borrowers had acted with caution after the UK voted to leave the European Union on June 23.

But he added: “Mark Carney and the Bank of England reduced the base rate to a historic low of 0.25% at the start of August and announced a support programme to help pass this rate cut onto borrowers.

“The impact of these measures will be seen in future months, but should provide assurance for both borrowers and lenders alike.”

It is expected the Bank of England will reduce the interest rate further in November. The Bank of England governor Carney has told the Treasury select committee the bank’s “timely, comprehensive and concrete” action after June’s referendum helped support house prices and the wider economy.

E.surv’s mortgage monitor also found the proportion of approvals made to borrowers with a small deposit was 18.3%, down from 19.1% in April this year.

Although, the levels of lending to those with small deposits still remains above the level recorded in previous years.  In July 2015, 16.2% of mortgage approals were to small deposit borrowers and in July 2014 this figure was 17.4%.

“Large deposit borrowers – defined as those with a deposit of 60% or more – continued to greatly outnumber their small deposit counterparts,” e.surv’s release stated.

“Some 33.2% of all loans in July were made to these customers, higher than the 30.7% recorded a year ago.”

e.surv, part of LSL, uses its own data to forecast  Bank of England’s mortgage data mortgage approval numbers.