Available mortgage products on the rise

  • Story by: Dominic Welling
  • Magazine: FTAdviser
  • Published Thursday , May 07, 2009

The number of available mortgage products has climbed for the second month in a row showing possible signs of stabilisation in the mortgage market, according to Mortgage Brain's Monthly Product Analysis.

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The total number of live mortgage schemes listed on the sourcing system increased by 8 per cent in the last month, from 3,091 at the end of March to 3,322 yesterday (5th May).

Although this figure is still a 73 per cent decline on 12 months ago, the past two months alone have seen an encouraging increase of 22 per cent.

According to Mortgage Brain, variable rate mortgages saw the biggest increase during April at 18 per cent, followed by fixed rate mortgages at 13 per cent.

Trackers on the other hand have been much more volatile over recent months.

For example, despite witnessing an increase of 21 per cent during March, they dropped 14 per cent in April from 653 at the end of March to 563 yesterday (5 May).

Mark Lofthouse, chief executive officer of Mortgage Brain, said: "It's encouraging to see the total number of live mortgage schemes increase for the second month in a row and whilst some of these changes might be small, they do represent positive indicators of market stabilisation and slight upward movement.

"However, as the latest figures for trackers clearly show, it's still too early to assume the mortgage market is levelling out and poised for a significant bounce back. It's still going to take some time."