Home loans are not going to become more readily available yet

Industry experts have recently confirmed what most people have already worked out for themselves – that the availability of home loans in the UK is not likely to increase anytime soon. Read more

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Frightened banks pull mortgage deals

Recent figures have shown that since the start of October hundreds of mortgage deals have been pulled off the shelves by lenders who are becoming increasingly nervous in the current difficult financial market. Over the past year thousands of mortgage products have been taken off the shelves as lenders have become more and more concerned about lending money out. Read more

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BSA: Customers still have “a very wide choice” in mortgage market

Although the range of mortgages available has shrunk in the past year, it continues to be a competitive market where customers still have “a very wide choice,” the Building Societies Association (BSA) has said.

Neil Johnson, PR and policy manager at BSA, said that building societies in particular are offering competitively priced products, which is why they are featuring prominently on the best-buy tables.

A recent survey by Moneyfacts.co.uk revealed that the number of mortgage deals available has dropped by 60 per cent compared to last year.

This may leave many borrowers in financial difficulty about since 1.4 million people are due to come off cheap fixed-rate mortgage deals this year, says the Financial Services Authority.

By the end of 2008 more than 100,000 home owners are expected to be in negative equity, according to the Market Oracle.

Earlier this month HSBC announced that it would match the interest rate of previous deals for two years for borrowers whose fixed-rates were nearing their expiration date.

Commenting on HSBC’s move, Mr Johnson said: “It’s what you would expect in the competitive mortgage market that we’ve got, where providers actually offer different products that will appeal to different customers.”

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