More High LTVs, Lower Rates – A Good Start To 2010 Mortgages

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This year has begun very well for mortgages as lenders not only increase the number of high loan to value mortgages available but also cut rates on a number of products.

According to Moneysupermarket, the amount of 85% LTV products increase by 22% since the end of 2009 and even more amazingly, 90% LTV products increase by 11% over the same period. Most borrowers were hampered in 2008 and 2009 by a huge lack of high LTV loans but the tide seems to be slowly turning.

The good news doesn't stop there. Rates across all mortgage products have begun to creep down since October last year. Rates for 80% LTVs have fallen hardest, with the average rate now sitting at 4.97%, 0.77% lower than in October last year.

Hannah-Mercedes Skenfield, mortgages channel manager at moneysupermarket.com, says: "Lenders seem to have started 2010 with their doors open and are clearly more open to mortgage lending than they have been for some time. The increase in products available at 85 and 90% is particularly encouraging for first-time buyers, as scraping together a large deposit is not easy, and was the reason many prospective first-time buyers deserted the market in their droves last year."

The website also found that, although there are only nine products available at 95% LTV, the average rate on those loans has fallen by 0.71% since October. This might be the most pertinent example of lenders becoming more confident in lending mortgages to those with little LTV but with the ability to handle a mortgage.

Those looking for a mortgage are finding more choices for them in the UK mortgage market, there is no doubt. But to be sure of accessing as much of the mortgage market as possible, a borrower must go to a whole of market mortgage adviser. They can search the whole of the market and find the perfect loan tailored for the borrower's situation, regardless of the lender.

SOURCE: Moneysupermarket.com, 26/01/10

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