But the number of home loans aimed at people with a 40pc deposit has soared during the same period, rising from just 17 in July 2007 to 251 in January this year and 320 now.

Financial information group moneyfacts.co.uk said the fall in availability of mortgages with a 90pc loan to value ratio (LTV) showed that first-time buyers were continuing to be ignored by lenders as they cherry-picked lower-risk customers.

Banks and building societies are also failing to pass on falls in their own funding costs to people borrowing a high proportion of their home’s value.

The cost of the average two-year fixed-rate mortgage for someone with a 10pc deposit has fallen by only 0.12 of a percentage point to 6.12pc since September 2007, despite the Bank of England base rate dropping from 5.75pc to a record low of just 0.5pc during the same period.

The margins that lenders charge on these products have also soared during the same period, from just 0.02 of a percentage point above two-year swap rates, on which the deals are partially based, in September 2007 to 1.34 percentage points a year ago, and a massive 4.25 percentage points now.

From -  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/financ