Home buyers may benefit from more affordable mortgage deals in 2010, it has been claimed.

Technical manager at mortgageforce Katie Tucker said: "We’ve already seen loans-to-value improving, so that will get better. We will start seeing decent 90 per cent deals at an affordable level – around five per cent – from most lenders."

Ms Tucker added that competition will be a key factor in the coming year as lenders begin to increase flexibility with credit scoring and underwriting.

"Perfectly legitimate borrowers" have been refused loans in 2009, she added.

On December 23rd the British Bankers Association revealed that lending for house purchase had increased by 152.3 per cent since November 2008.

But economist at the Council of Mortgage Lenders Paul Samter predicted on December 18th that there would not be much change in house buying activity in the coming months.

The emergence of some higher loan-to-value products has been seen but there was no sign of lending volumes recovering swiftly, he advised.

Tags: buying a home, mortgage loans, Mortgages, moving house, Property Market