Mortgage product numbers increase again

May 6, 2020 by Brendan O'Neill

Lenders

This last week has seen a rise of 5.9% in the amount of mortgage products made available by providers, according to the latest research from Mortgage Brain, which suggests signs of industry recovery.

At the end of the last week, the total number of these across the UK was 8,044, which is 488 more than the total for the week before. What adds fuel to the suggestion that this is the start of a pattern of recovery rather than simply a blip is that it is the second week in a row that there has been a rise in the total.

The remortgaging part of the market accounted for a significant share of the overall rise, thanks to a 5.4% increase in the number of those products available. The number of home move mortgage products also saw a rise of 2%. However, it was not all good news for the industry, as there was a 1.9% drop in the number of new buy-to-let mortgages available.

Furthermore, the overall number of these products still stands at 45% below the average number in the nine weeks leading up to 16th March, a week before the lockdown was imposed. Mortgage Brain is stating that lenders relaxing their criteria for signing off on loans and boosting their loan-to-value accounts for the rise.

Some prominent mortgage providers, including Nationwide and Hodge, have also started lending again, which further explains it.

This is good news for everyone in the industry, including mortgage advisors with CeMAP training, whose services will continue to be needed.