Product numbers have fallen by 3 per cent to 8,746 over the past week as lenders withdrew high loan-to-value deals, but  the number of  illustrations downloaded by brokers continued to rise, data from Mortgage Brain show.

The availability of products recovered by 17.8 per cent since their lowest point in the week ending April 12, but they remain 40.4 per cent below pre-pandemic levels.

Downloads of European standardised information sheets by advisers edged closer to the numbers seen before lockdown with an increase of 2.4 per cent over the past week.

ESIS downloads are now just 8.5 per cent below the nine-week average to March 16 before restrictions came into force.

There was a reduction in lending to borrowers with small deposits as illustrations for mortgages at 85 and 90 per cent LTV fell by 4.4 per cent on the previous week.

But lending between 80 and 85 per cent LTV increased by the same margin. 

Lending above 90 per cent LTV remained level week on week at  just 1.3 per cent of the all illustrations generated, which was down sharply from 6.6 per cent before the pandemic.

Lending below 80 per cent LTV has returned to pre-lockdown levels.

Mortgage Brain chief executive Mark Lofthouse says: “The mortgage market has enjoyed quite the turnaround in the last six weeks, with product numbers and ESIS volumes in a far healthier position today than many would have dared imagine.

 “While overall product numbers have dropped slightly, this is to be expected as lenders constantly review their ranges and get a feel for the lay of the land in this new normal. 

“This is clearly the case at the higher LTV end of the market, which represents a far smaller proportion of business now than we saw before the pandemic took hold. 

“Hopefully we will see the health of this segment of the market improve in time as lender appetite grows.”