The Examiner carried a story about the number of options available to borrowers in the present market and the fact that they have dropped over 50% since 2008.
In 2008 there were 380 different mortgages available on the market across all banks and all rate suites, today, that number rests at 179 meaning that at least 50% of the choice is gone. That is also reflective of the fact that so many lenders have exited the market. Below is a list of several who are no longer lending here.
Halifax Fresh Mortgages Springboard Stepstone Nua Homeloans First Active GE Money Leeds
Many of these providers were in the non-prime/specialist/sub-prime category, however, a drop of 50% in choice doesn’t mean that there are no options left. Certainly tracker mortgages are a thing of the past as are Standard Variables (referring to new business for these products, existing clients will keep their existing product).
The other factor that makes this less spectacular is that many lenders replicate offerings, so when each lender pulled out, their two year fixed …