Mortgage products are increasing as LTVs rise - is the mortgage drought over?

Published on 16th February 2010

After the harsh conditions of 2009, the news that 1000 new mortgage products were released in January could signal the beginning of the end of the mortgage squeeze and a positive start to the year. On top of this, Contractors with small deposits will be excited by news that higher loan to value (LTV) mortgages are making a comeback.

The number of new mortgage products announced each month has slowly increased over the past seven months as lending conditions begin to thaw following the big freeze in the first half of last year. The biggest rise in over a year was seen in January as 1000 new products were launched according to our mortgage sourcing system Mortgage Brain. This is a massive 78% higher than six months ago and hopefully signals the end to the mortgage woes that have paralysed the housing market.

However, as the number of mortgage products has steadily increased over the last seven months, there has been a significant lack of any high LTV mortgages and as such Contractors have been forced to save ever larger deposits before they can even think of stepping onto or up the housing ladder.

A boost has been handed to these Contractors as it has been calculated that the number of 85% LTV mortgages rose by 22% and availability of 90% LTV mortgages rose by 11% last month. This could help Contractors with either a 15% or 10% deposit to buy their own home, whereas they have been largely excluded from the property market for over a year now.

There has been a marked increase in the number of mortgage products and the willingness of lenders to help people to move house since the beginning of the year. This has been mirrored by a renewed confidence in the housing market and the phones in our mortgage department have been ringing off the hook this month as Contractors seek to take advantage of our contract based underwriting to snap up bargains.

With over ten years experience in helping Contractors to make their dream home a reality, we have been negotiated specialist underwriting with many of the large high street lenders and this enable us to secure your mortgage based on a multiple of your contract rate alone. This saves you the time and hassle of producing three years accounts and references from your accountant or Umbrella Company.

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