The Genworth and Moneyfacts mortgage tracker found a 29% increase in the number of 95% loan-to-value deals from 141 in October 2014 to 182 in January 2015.

This figure is also considerably up on the 116 recorded in January of last year.

Lenders are now less reliant on Help to Buy to offer 95% loan-to-value mortgages with just one-in-three products using the government scheme.

The average rate quoted for a high loan-to-value product dropped to a new low, falling by 0.46% between December and January to reach 4.79%.

This narrowed the gap between an average 75% and 95% loan-to-value mortgage to 2.78%, but this still represents a saving of £4,068 for those with a 25% deposit.

Simon Crone, Genworth vice president of mortgage insurance Europe, said: “For many aspiring first time buyers, raising a deposit of 25% is simply not an option, so the growth of 95% LTV products is a welcome sign. Help to Buy has clearly restored confidence among lenders to start offering these loans after a severe drought during the recession.

“It is encouraging to see more products emerging outside Help to Buy, and a growing number of building societies are using private mortgage insurance to help them compete. Even so, the government scheme still accounts for a third of products and questions remain in the longer term about how competition will fare when Help to Buy ends.”