Good news on mortgages - another rise in product choice
There’s been another increase in the number of mortgage products available to buyers and landlords - a sign of all aspects of the housing market slowly returning to something like normal.
There was a 1.1 per cent rise in product choice last week, with a new total of 9,266 different products.
This is up by almost 25 per cent on the lowest point seen since Covid-19 struck back in the week ending April 12.
However, product availability remains substantially down on the numbers seen before the pandemic, with last week’s figures still down by over a third on the nine-week average to mid-March.
Demand from owner occupier buyers has now surpassed that seen before the lockdown; this is also the case with buy to let borrowing.
There are indications that the situation for higher Loan To Value borrowing is gradually improving too.
“[This] demonstrates the strength of desire to buy homes remains strong across the UK, whether buying as an owner occupier or for investment purposes.
This demand is being supported by the steady increase in the number of products available too, which has hit another new high following the lockdown” says Mark Lofthouse, chief executive at Mortgage Brain, which monitors the market for product numbers.
“There remains a clear ceiling on Loan To Value, with high LTV lending continuing to be restricted. This looks likely to remain a challenging area of the market in the months ahead as lenders limit their exposure to small deposit borrowers.”
