Mark Lofthouse, chief executive of Mortgage Brain, calculated that each product released by a lender would only sell on average around three times before being pulled.
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However, with roughly three-quarters of lending in the UK completed by the top 10 lenders, this would leave vast swathes of products left unsold.
He said: “Over the last five years, the number of products available has risen eightfold. Over this period, there has been lots of innovation, which is good for the customer. However, this is only good when a broker has extensive knowledge and a good sourcing system.”
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Lofthouse said there were currently 35,000 products on Mortgage Brain, each with an average life of five weeks.
This meant there were roughly 350,000 different mortgages per year. With 1.2million mortgages sold each year, each is only sold, on average, three times.
Ron Stout, assistant director of PR at Northern Rock, said:
“We’ve always believed individual customers have individual needs. One-size never fits all, therefore we want a reasonably wide selection of products.”
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Darren Pescod, managing director of The Mortgage Broker, said: “A good sourcing system should allow you to get the right product. However, you often see 30-40 similar products just available through different distribution routes.”
