Mortgage products 'on the increase'

Date:Tuesday 22nd December 2009
Author: Susanna Kavka

The number of mortgage products on the market has started to increase, but is still down on this time last year, according to moneysupermaket.com.

Between August - when the number of mortgages available reached its lowest - and November of this year, there was a 13 per cent rise in the number of products on offer.

However, this figure is still a 26 per cent decline in the amount of mortgages that were available in January 2009.

The number of mortgages with high loan-to-values (LTV) has helped to encourage more people onto the property ladder, with 85 per cent LTV loans increasing by a third since January.

First-time buyers now have around 1,354 products to choose form, according to reports from moneysupermaket.com earlier this month.

Speaking at the time, Hannah-Mercedes Skenfield, mortgage manager at moneysupermarket.com, said: "However, those with very little equity or deposit will remain concerned by the complete collapse of the 95 per cent LTV market, which has fallen by 75 per cent."