Tracker Mortgages Vanish
27 July 2009 / by Andy Davies
The number of tracker mortgages available to consumers has fallen by 81 per cent in the past 12 months, moneysupermarket.com has revealed.
Despite claims that the mortgage market was beginning to recover, figures published by the price comparison site suggest otherwise.
According to the data, the number of fixed rate mortgages being handed out has fallen by 46 per cent, but the biggest drop has seen the number of one year tracker mortgages available plummet by almost 100 per cent from 522 available in July 2008, to just two remaining today.
In addition, the total number of mortgages available to consumers has fallen by 59 per cent.
This decline in available deals has left consumers with fewer options to choose between when it comes to selecting a mortgage.
Experts at moneysupermarket.com say it is not surprising that lenders have chosen to withdraw many products, Louise Cuming, head of mortgages at moneysupermarket.com, explains: “Banks which had large numbers of tracker mortgages on their books have had their fingers burnt by the dramatic fall in the Base Rate.
“It isn’t surprising that they are now a little unwilling to get back into that market, especially with the Base Rate remaining so low.”
Ms Cuming adds: “At the same time, customers may be concerned that a tracker mortgage at 2.5 per cent above the Base Rate could quickly become very expensive.”
But, she urged consumers looking for a new mortgage not to be put off by the decline in tracker mortgages, she added: “The near entire absence of tracker products shouldn’t put you off looking around for them; the trackers that are still available are generally much cheaper than the equivalent fixed rate deals.”
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