Mr Haggart added: "Interestingly, the marked difference between first-time buyers and other borrowers is absent in other regions.
"Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales are all seeing stronger performances across all categories of borrower with homeowner remortgaging in Scotland and Northern Ireland positively exploding."
Louisa Sedgwick, director of sales in mortgages at Vida Homeloans, said: "Encouragingly, we have seen the highest number of first-time buyers get on the property ladder in the last ten years.
"At a time when millennials are facing significant affordability restrictions brokers have been vital in supporting and enabling these new buyers to get that longed for first home.
"As an industry, we must continue to support driving generation rent into generation buy."
imogen.tew@ft.com
What do you think about the issues raised by this story? Email us on fa.letters@ft.com to let us know.
