Mortgage products up 70% year-on-year
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The number of mortgage products available has hit the 2,053 mark, a 70% increase on the 1,209 available on April 1 2009, show the latest figures from Moneyfacts.
Moneyfacts says a significant proportion of the increase has occurred since the start of the year, when the number of mortgages available increasing by 28%.
Furthermore, it is the higher LTV mortgages that are witnessing the biggest percentage increases as lenders continue to relax their credit criteria.
On April 1 2009 there were three deals at 95% LTV, compared to 13 today, with 71 deals at 90% LTV, compared to 152 today.
Michelle Slade, spokesperson for Moneyfacts, says by increasing the numbers of mortgages, lenders are showing that they are open for business.
She says: “Increased availability brings increased competition and the mortgage market is finally seeing some of the most competitive deals of the last few years.
“Lenders are becoming more accommodating with their lending criteria, which bodes well for increasing the competitiveness of the mortgage market.
“It is pleasing to see that the average mortgage rate continues to fall, while at the same time deposit requirements are easing. House prices appear to have bottomed out, meaning higher LTV mortgages are a less risky option for lenders.”
She says for a long time, borrowers with a small deposit have had few options.
She adds: “Many will be hoping the positive trend continues, with increased competition reducing the cost of high LTV mortgages. Only then will first-time buyers, many of whom are currently priced out of the market, be able to return.”
Readers' comments (5)
Anonymous | 16 Mar 2010 10:35 am
interesting take on things, considering in July 2007 there were 27962 products available i would say that this data shows a truer reflection of the market.
Also i would like to know the amount of products available on a higher loan to value than 50%!!! for any client who has had a ccj in the last 2 years or a ccj more than £500, i would hazard a guess at none meaning that unless you are squeeky then there is nothing still available. I would like the % difference at this end of the market and then to see how this can be glossed up.
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Danny Lovey | 16 Mar 2010 10:50 am
It all goes to prove the point that statisics can be misleading. In England I cannot see any intermediary products at 95 per cent LTV, but I can find a few direct deals. I can also find variants of 90 per cent deals that statistically look like there are more. Meanwhile, back in the real world of the mortgage practitioner that maybe OK if you are a prime high scoring borrower. If you are anything else,like missed a mobile phone or catalogue payment in the last 6 months or could be called even lighter adverse, medium, heavy or don't call us we will call you adverse, or heaven forbit self employed wihtout at least 2 years accounts then you can forget it!
When we get back to 20-30,000 mortgage deals it may even raise some excitment for me, but meanwhile its mostly a small group of lenders deciding when they have filled their small targets and then dropping out of it for a while and the genuine lack of real competition and direct deals and low SVR's that continue to make an intermediary's life very difficult
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Anonymous | 16 Mar 2010 11:57 am
Great points made. An increase in like for like products will have no effect whatsoever. We need new products catering for adverse before we can see any encouraging signs of improvement.
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Bobby | 16 Mar 2010 1:12 pm
The lenders are very much NOT " open for business ". They are still 30 months on from the start of the credit crunch basically all cherry picking 75% or ideally 60% ltv clients and refusing 6 in 10 applications. Effectively there are no 90% mortgages as 8 in 10 of these are declined. There is NO competition in the marketplace and is being bossed by half a dozen high street banks. The fact there are a few more products does not actually mean they are lending on these products. The only figures that matter are the actual mortgages being offered not the rates available and these were 50% down in January and re mortgaging his a new all time LOW so excuse me for not getting too excited. This all meas of course no intermediaries left by the end of 2010 and in 5 years time to net result of a nation of renters with a priviledged few owning a property or getting a mortgage.
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Mark Sutton | 16 Mar 2010 7:53 pm
All good comments that sum up the current mood in the mortgage broker camp. What we need is lenders to differentiate between the people who have genuinely had problems in the past and those who have just stuck two fingers up to their creditors. I believe this is where the market went wrong last time. When the likes of Kensington and HMC started lending, there had to be a good explanation for the adverse credit and providing it stacked up they would lend. There should be a return to this and no more unless we want to go through another credit crunch. Some people should not be offered credit as they either do not have the skills to deal with it or they are just plain irresponsible. But some people do genuinely fall upon hard times for all sorts of reasons and they usually learn their mistakes and are therefore a good safe bet to lend to.
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