The number of mortgage products offered to borrowers in the UK increased for the third consecutive month in January this year to 2,516 different loan products, according to MoneySupermarket.com’s report.
During its peak in August 2007, the number of distinct mortgages offered by lenders reached more than 30,000 — twelve times the current report’s total amount. The figure was down in August last year, at 2,179 different mortgages.
January’s figure exceeded 2,500 for the first time since May last year.
“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 choices, and where there is choice, there is competition,” said Hannah-Mercedes Skenfield, MoneySupermarket.com’s Mortgage Channel Manager.
She added that the third-straight-month increase indicates that growth in mortgage diversity could be sustained.
“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, just before the collapse of [UK mortgage lender] Northern Rock, when there were over 30,000 products available,” she said. “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.”