There are record numbers of mortgage products available – after a leap of almost 1,000 in just one month.

The Mortgage Advice Bureau, which largely operates out of estate agents’ branches, said this morning there were 12,265 mortgage deals available by the end of August – the largest number it has known in the five years it has been tracking mortgage product volumes.

The firm said that competition between mortgage lenders was sparking the record levels.

It also said that mortgage applications were up 14% last month compared with August 2013.

Brian Murphy of MAB said: “We have seen double-digit growth in mortgage applications year-on-year, while lenders are tripping over themselves to outdo one another with their latest deals.”

Separately, the haart chain said that its average selling price across 200 branches in August was £206,578, up 8.9% on a year ago, with exchanges up 8.9%.

It said that 45.9% of all mortgages written by its mortgage business were first-time buyer loans.