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Mortgage product shelf life rapidly shrinking: Moneyfacts

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The average time a mortgage product is on the market for is equal to the lowest previously recorded, back in May 2017, Moneyfacts says.

Potential borrowers currently have just 21 days to select their mortgage of choice, data shows, which compares to an average of 30 days in July 2021 and 48 days in August 2019.

As well as what appears to be aggressive repricing within the market, the number of products to choose from has continued to climb from August 2020’s count of 2,526 across all LTVs.

Last month this figure stood at 4,512 and today, 4,660.

Nowhere is this jump more visible than in the 95% LTV bracket – August 2020’s count of 20 has increase to 275, while at the lowest end – at 60% LTV – the number has risen from 500 in to 577 across the same time frame.

Moneyfacts adds that for the second month in a row, both the two- and five-year average rats have fallen across all LTVs, by 3 basis points apiece.

This leaves the average two-year fixed rate at 2.52% and the average five-year fixed rate at 2.75%. For the two-year rate this is the lowest rate seen since January 2021 and, for the five-year, the lowest recorded since March this year.

Moneyfacts finance expert Eleanor Williams says: “Our data shows that the amount of choice available to consumers has risen again this month [to]… the highest recorded in seventeen months.

“This demonstrates the level of recovery in the residential sector where, for only the second consecutive month since June 2018, availability rose across all the individual LTV brackets as lenders endeavour to accommodate borrowers with varying levels of deposit or equity.

“Availability in the lower and mid-LTV sectors has rebounded, where borrowers looking at 80% LTV or 85% LTV options have 152 and 22 more products to choose from than in August 2019.

“Choice continues to improve in the higher LTV tiers, with growth at 90% LTV and 95% LTV increasing by a further 25 and 22 deals this past month alone.

“This reflects that, likely supported by the introduction of the Mortgage Guarantee Scheme, providers are prepared to cater to this traditionally higher-risk demographic, although their desire to do so remains some way behind where this was compared to a pre-pandemic August 2019 as there are currently 199 and 116 less deals to choose from than there were two years ago.”

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