A Bank of England report has said that homebuyers could face a new mortgage squeeze, leading to a shortage in new home loans, in the next three months.

Further tightening of wholesale funding could see a decrease once again in the availability of mortgages, despite a recent rise following the end of the recession.

The prediction from the Bank of England Credit Conditions survey comes just after news that the rate at which homeowners and businesses are defaulting on their loans has “unexpectedly” fallen.

The last quarter saw demand for new home loans fall slightly, although the availability of mortgages was on the rise.

Douglas Middleton, of Ernst and Young, said: "While the survey shows that costs of borrowing have eased over the last quarter, we think credit conditions have turned over the last three or four weeks,"

The Chief European economist at Capital Economics added: "The Bank of England's latest credit conditions survey strikes a fairly downbeat tone, with banks expecting mortgage availability to decline over the next quarter."

New homebuyers who were able to offer a large deposit have been most likely to benefit from the increase in mortgage availability, according to a recent survey by Moneyfacts.

Those with a 40% deposit have had more choice on the mortgage front, with a 10,6% rise in new mortgage deals compared with a 2.8% rise for those with a smaller deposit of 15%.

Michelle Slade, of Moneyfacts, said: "Rates continue to decline as lenders try and tempt borrowers off record low standard variable rates and on to new deals, so much so that the average two year fixed mortgage now stand at its lowest level in seven years"