Home.co.uk
Home.co.uk

News: Mortgage Availability Shrinks

Thu, 08 Apr 10

The availability of mortgages shrunk over the last month, according to latest figures from Moneyfacts.

The financial services comparison website found that the total number of mortgages fell slightly from 1,798 in March to 1,727 in the first week of April.

Despite the drop in availability interest rates are becoming more favourable. Moneyfacts found that the average two-year fixed-rate fell from 4.74% in March to 4.72% in April.

The average five-year fixed-rate deal fell from 5.92% to 5.87% and the average two-year tracker rate dropped from 3.65% to 3.58% during the same period.

The proportion of deals requiring larger deposits of at least 25% of the value of a home also fell, from 57% in March to 56% in April.

Moneyfacts says that a factor in the slump in mortgage availability was that the lender Accord Mortgages withdrew a number of its deals from the market during March.

  

By Joe Lepper

See also: Asking Price Index, House Prices and Trends by Town and Postcode, Mortgages, Life Insurance and Mortgage Protection Guide

Back to: News Index