Lenders are cautiously expanding their mortgage offerings, with the number of home loans available rising steadily since August’s low of 2,182.
According to moneysupermarket.com homebuyers and remortgagers can now choose from 2,430 products, although the figure is still well below the 3,384 available at the beginning of the year.
Encouragingly for first-time buyers, the most significant area of growth has been in loans that require only a 15% deposit.
The price comparison website’s research reveals that 85% loan-to-value (LTV) products have increased by one third since January.
The firm’s mortgage manager, Hannah-Mercedes Skenfield, comments: “It certainly seems that we could be on the long road to recovery, after four months of sustained growth in the number of mortgage products available.”
She adds: “The real barrier to increased mortgage lending over the last couple of years has been on the supply side, as lenders have been extremely reluctant to open their purse strings a little for fear of increasing their book of bad debt.”
Ms Skenfield also believes the growth in higher LTV deals suggests lenders’ concerns over equity are easing, although those will very low deposits are still hampered by the virtual collapse of the 95% LTV market over the past two years.
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