First-time buyers may be closer to getting their foot on the property ladder, it has been revealed.

According to Michelle Slade, an expert at website Moneyfacts.co.uk, first-time buyers may be in luck as a number of lenders are offering a variety of mortgage deals.

The expert said that three quarters of the offers are fixed rate mortgage deals.

However, first time buyers would usually turn their heads away from the deals with the interest rates on the mortgages being seven times the base rate.

She said: "Even if you have found a property at a bargain price, if you don't have at least a 25 per cent deposit, you will be paying a heavy premium and for many it just not a price they are prepared to pay.”

Meanwhile, a building society has announced that it will be reducing the cost of its range of 60 and 75 per cent loan to value (LTV) mortgages deals.

Yorkshire Building Society has cut the prices of mortgage deals with its two-year fixed rate mortgage to start at 3.69 per cent at £495.

Tom Girling, mortgage product manager at the building society, said: "We are taking this opportunity to boost our mortgage applications as there are beginning to be signs of an increase in activity in the market."