A 13% increase in product availability was seen during April to bring the total number of live mortgage products listed on its market-leading sourcing system to 11,748 (as of 2nd May 2011) – it’s highest since September 2008.
The consecutive increases in product availability over the past five months continues to shape a positive outlook on the longer term analysis where the current figures now represent a 54% increase compared to this time six months ago and a 142% increase compared to this time last year.
Positive movement was also seen during April for the three main product types – fixed, trackers and variable.
Fixed rate products witnessed the biggest increase with 1,026 new products (16%) being introduced during the past month. The latest increase further cements fixed rates as the most dominant and popular product type with current figures representing 7,576 of all available products.
Trackers quickly bounced back from their first drop in four months with a 6% increase in product availability (167 new products) during April. Current figures (as of 2nd May 2011) now stand at 2,924, up from 2,757 on 4th April 2011.
Variable rate products increased by 12% (137 new products) during the past month and now represent 1,248 of all available products. Despite being the least popular product type, the 12-month analysis continues to show the best long-term performance with a 205% increase in product availability compared to the start May 2010.
Mark Lofthouse, CEO of Mortgage Brain, said: “The data from this month’s analysis is particularly encouraging and continues to show positive movement for the UK intermediary mortgage market.
“There are nearly 7,000 more products available now than this time last year, which really does open up the playing field for brokers in sourcing a greater variety of mortgage products to help better meet their client’s needs.”
