Wednesday 26th March 2008
The range of mortgage deals available in the UK property sector has been reduced dramatically by the credit crunch.
According to figures from Moneyfacts, the number of deals on the market has fallen from 15,599 to 5,725.
This represents a fall of two-thirds, with the fall being attributed to lenders seeking to shore up their exposure to risk.
Choice for sub-prime borrowers has seen the most marked decrease, with the range of these products falling from 9,531 to 1,798 - a drop of 81 per cent.
Louise Cuming, head of mortgages at moneysupermarket.com, said: "I think when the credit crunch first hit, we thought that it might be short-term.
"Now if you talk to some of the lenders, they are talking about two to three years before they get back on an even keel."
She added: "Even then we won't get back to the full availability of such cheap deals we saw before then. It will be at least 12 months before we see things stabilise."
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Mortgages
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