Number of mortgage products rises

The number of mortgage products available has increased for the third month in a row but still remains over 90 per cent lower than at the peak of the market in August 2007, new figures have revealed.

Last week, there were 2,516 mortgage products on offer in the market, passing the 2,500 mark for the first time since May last year, according to moneysupermarket.com.

Competition has returned to the mortgage market since the New Year, with a number of new fixed-rate and tracker mortgages launched. Banks and building societies have also cut rates this month - with some rates falling by as much as 0.6 per cent.

But the availability of mortgage products is still significantly lower than before the credit crunch. In August 2007, just before Northern Rock collapsed, there were over 30,000 mortgage products on the market.

“This is good news for buyers, as passing the 2,500 barrier does suggest that those looking for a mortgage are finding more and more choice, and where there is choice, there is competition,” said Hannah-Mercedes Skenfield, mortgages channel manager at moneysupermarket.com.

“However, we have to put things into perspective; whilst 2,500 available products looks like an important milestone now, it represents what would have been only a small fraction of the market in August 2007...with this in mind we are clearly a long way short of a full recovery, but we are at least moving in the right direction,” she said.