E.surv, which is responsible for 40% of house valuations in the UK, has reported that lenders are beginning to offer higher loan-to-value mortgages and that more first time buyers are purchasing homes.

The company’s latest figures also show that 27% of all mortgage approvals in April were for properties costing less than £125,000. The figure is 7% higher than the same month in 2010, and 79% of all approvals were for properties costing less than £250,000, up from 71% in April 2010.

It says the data shows that lenders are beginning to offer higher loan-to-value (LTV) mortgages, with the average LTV for properties under £125,000 standing at 68% in April, compared to 64% for the same month in 2010. The number of purchases also increased in the 85%-90% LTV bracket, at almost three times the pace of the rest of the market.

The average LTV for all purchases was 61%, and total mortgage approvals rose 1.8% in April to 48,435 from 47,577 in March.

However, despite the increase in first-time buyers, it was the buying of properties in excess of £1m that really increased, up five-fold as buyers tried to beat the rise in stamp duty from 4% to 5% implemented in April.