According to Octane Capital, first-time buyers’ product availability has improved by 7.7% between March and June of this year to around 700 deals.
This is also 12% up from the end of last year. However, first-time buyer deals only account for 7.1% of all mortgage products on the market.
BTL landlords’ product availability jumped by 6.2% in the last three months to around 2,016. This is also up by 2.5% at the end of last year.
BTL products made up around 20.4% of total products.
Remortgages accounted for the largest proportion of products at 3,455, equal to 35% of total products. This is a 3.2% uptick in product availability during the last three months and 9% up on the end of last year.
Moving home had around 3,323 deals, making up 33.6% of total products. This represents a 5.6% improvement in product availability in the last three months and is 10.8% up on December.
Jonathan Samuels, Octane Capital’s CEO, said: “We’re yet to see interest rates fall despite inflation now seemingly under control, but given the prolonged period of economic uncertainty that has enveloped the nation and the Bank of England’s cautious approach in managing it, it’s no surprise that it’s been deemed too early to cut rates.
“The good news is that since the base rate has been held at 5.25%, a greater degree of stability has returned to the mortgage sector and the wider property market.”
He added: “As a result, lenders have been increasing the number of products available to all buyer segments and this greater level of choice not only benefits buyers, but demonstrates confidence in the market.
“With a rate cut on the horizon, it’s shaping up to be a far stronger year for the property sector and we’ve already seen signs of a return to form emerging since the start of the year.”
This article first appeared on our sister site, Mortgage Solutions, here.
