Although there may be a lot of negativity surrounding the hosing an home owner loan industries at the moment, loan rates have fallen significantly and the number of available home owner loan products has doubled, since the Bank of England base rate of interest fell to just 0.5 per cent more than three years ago.

New research conducted by Moneyfacts.co.uk has found that there are currently a total of 2,612 different home owner loan and mortgage products available on the market at the moment, compared with just 1,452 back in March 20009.

The good news for borrowers is that not only have the interest rates dropped on many loan deals from lenders, but also the average loan to value has increased significantly, as bank and building societies start to ease their lending criteria slightly.

In fact, there are now total of 301 home owner loan products which allow a maximum loan to value of up to 90 per cent, compared with just 89 three years ago and452 loan products which offer 85 per cent loan to value, up from just 169.

Whilst many borrowers have now been enjoying cheap loans for some time, it look as though this trend could be about to end, as a number of lenders are now starting to increase their standard variable rates on loans to existing borrowers, as well as increasing fees and charges on new loan deals.

Rachel Springall of Moneyfacts said “While the number of loan deals has increased, fees are at their highest since Moneyfacts record began, so consumers need to check the true cost of any mortgage offer.”

“Borrowers affected by an increase to their standard variable rate should review their loan repayments and consider shopping around for the best loan deal, rather than assume it will come from their current lender.”

Over the course of the past few weeks and months there has been a dramatic change in the attitude of lenders towards offering interest only home owner loans to borrowers, with the majority reducing the maximum loan to value they are prepared to offer and others withdrawing from interest only loans altogether.

This could cause problems for existing borrowers with an interest only loan who are thinking about re mortgaging their home and taking an additional advance in order to raise capital from their equity.

By switching their existing home owner loan to a new lender, interest only borrowers could lose the option of having an interest only loan, due to the newly tightened criteria on such loans, thereby leaving them with the option of a repayment loan and much higher monthly loan repayments, which could be too expensive an option for those looking for just a few thousand pounds in an additional loan.

This situation could now make a secured loan an even more attractive option for a borrower with an interest only loan who is looking to raise capital from their equity, as they will still be able to retain the benefits of their existing interest only home owner loan.

Although any new secured loan taken out will be on a repayment basis, this will still work out cheaper than a full re mortgage on a repayment basis and will also probably allow more flexibility on the additional borrowing.

Dave Pinnington of V Loans said “Secured loans, apart from being particularly competitively priced with rates from under 7 per cent, have a transparent charging structure and with low early redemption fees are particularly attractive as they are not tied to the longer term of a home owner loan or mortgage.”

More and more people across the country are finding it harder to make ends meet financially at the moment, due to the extra burden of paying off personal loan and credit card debt, coupled with the ever increasing cost of living and reducing wages.

For many home owners in the UK, the situation has got that bad, that they are only able to afford to pay the interest charges on their homeowner loan or mortgage each month and are not making any repayment of the original loan amount at all.

The news comes from a new survey conducted by the financial advice website Unbiased.co.uk, which has shown that somewhere in the region of 1.5 million households across the country are only paying interest on their home owner loan.

These are cases where borrowers have been forced onto an interest only loan out of necessity, not by choice and most of these individuals are unlikely to have any means of repaying the loan at the intended maturity date, unless they change their current payments and overpay on the loan in the future to compensate for the current underpayments.

This equates to around one in seven home owner loan cases in the UK and with the current restrictions on interest only loans at the moment, it is highly likely that many of these borrowers will not be able to switch to a cheap loan deal on their mortgage, due to the particularly low loan to value ratios being offered at the moment.

Karen Barrett of Unbiased said “With incomes squeezed, it’s not surprising that many people are trying to save money by sticking to interest only loans, but this is a potential ticking time bomb.”

“What is really worrying is that almost a third of this group are either in or coming up to retirement age while more than half are between the ages of 35 and 55.”

The cost of buying a house and taking out a new home owner loan has increased once again for first time buyers looking to enter the housing and home owner loan market, as the recent holiday on stamp duty has come to an end.

The government introduced the holiday back in 2010, in an attempt to encourage first time buyers into the housing market, by reducing their overall costs of a large deposit and home owner loan or mortgage fees and charges, in the form of a temporary exemption to pay stamp duty on properties valued between £125,000 and 250,000.

Many experts within the housing and home owner loan industries have called on the government to extend the stamp duty holiday period in order to maintain the current levels of interest from first time buyers, but the tax break was ended on 23rd March this year.

This means that a new first time buyer will now have to pay stamp duty tax on all property purchases between £125,000 and £250,000 at a rate of 1 per cent of the purchase price. This could equate to an additional bill of £2,500 on top of the deposit and home owner loan costs and other fees, on a property valued at £250,000.

Figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) have shown that the number of new loans to first time buyers increased by almost quarter throughout the month of January this year, compared with the same time twelve months before, as buyers rushed to complete their loans and purchases before the holiday expired.

However, the government are confident that the introduction of the New Buy scheme and a god choice of cheap loan deals on home owner loans and mortgages will keep the enthusiasm going for first time buyers to enter the housing and home owner loan markets.

The government has recently launched its New Buy scheme, in connection with the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) and a number of building firms, which is designed to help first time buyers get onto the housing and home owner loan market with loans of up to 95 per cent loan to value.

Following the introduction of the New Buy scheme, three high street banks have announced that they have launched new home owner loan products which are intended to work in connection with the scheme.

Barclays, Nat West and the Nationwide have all announced new home owner loan products offering 95 per cent loan to value on new build properties built by a number of t designated building firms, although different lenders are dealing with different builders.

The New Buy home owner loan products being offered are all based on either two or three years fixed rates deals, with interest rates ranging from 4.29 per cent, up to 5.69 per cent.

Both Santander and the Halifax have said that they also intend to offer 95 per cent home owner loans under the scheme, although they have not yet given any specific loan product details.

The New Buy scheme was initially announced back in November last year and was officially launched on 12th March this year, along with the reintroduction of the right to buy scheme for council house tenants wishing to buy their own home.

Lenders are able to offer 95 per cent home owner loans at cheap loan rates under the scheme, due to the fact that the Government and house builders are providing a mortgage guarantee on the difference between a loan of 75 per cent loan to value and one for 95 per cent loan to value.