UK mortgage market sees 29% uplift in product availability

18 December 2018

UK, DECEMBER 18, 2018: An additional 2,788 products have been introduced into the UK mortgage market over the past 12 months from first charge mortgage lenders, representing a 29% uplift in product availability, according to new data from Mortgage Brain.

While representing the smallest product type by volume, 90%+ LTV products have shown the strongest performance over the past year – increasing by 19% over the last six months and 51% since the start of December 2017.

An additional 1,811 products over the past 12 months represents a 30% uplift in the number of products with a 70% LTV or more, with 7,908 products of this type now available to advisers.

Despite going through several periods of change and uncertainty in 2017, Buy-To-Let products have also shown a similar increase over the past 12 months – increasing by 28% to a high of 3,652 (as of 3 December 2018).

A total of 12,570 mainstream mortgage products are now listed on Mortgage Brain’s online and desktop sourcing systems - up from 9,782 at the beginning of December 2017.

Mark Lofthouse, CEO of Mortgage Brain, comments, “The increase in competition, an influx of higher LTV products and more lenders in the market, has clearly had a big impact on the growth of product numbers and availability over the past 12 months.

“Compared to this time two years ago, the market has seen a 53% uplift in product availability. While this shows that the market is in a much healthier place for all concerned, the continued growth in product numbers means that matching a client’s needs to the best products available is more important than ever.

“The latest Mortgage Brain sourcing systems, have over 200 first charge product search criteria, which is crucial in helping advisers to quickly best match the needs of their clients to the products available.”