Despite plenty of good news on the housing and homeowner loan front over the past few months, with increasing interest in property and an increase in the number of total loan products, it would appear that the current economic down turn is far from over, as the number of available homeowner loan products has reduced once again, following a steady increase over the past couple of months.

According to the latest monthly report from mortgage sourcing system Mortgage Brain, the total number of available homeowner loan products fell over the course of May this year by 14 per cent, after seeing two months of consecutive increases in products.

This leaves a total number of just 2,896 different loan products for consumers to choose from, which is less than 10 per cent of the figure from two years ago. Although the total number of loan products has increased over the course of the last three months, these figures just go to show how badly the mortgage and home owner loan markets have been hit by the credit crunch. The worst affected area is in fixed rate products, although this could be due to lenders being cautious with the prospect of increasing interest rates over the coming months.

Mark Lofthouse of Mortgage Brain said “It would have been great to have been able to report an increase in product availability for the third consecutive month. However, as these figures show, we’re still in the thick of a fluctuating and volatile market where trading conditions for mortgage intermediaries remains uncertain. It’s not all doom and gloom, however, there are positives to be taken from these figures. Product availability for fixed, variable and tracker loans have held steady when compared to three months ago, which in the current climate is a visible representation of market stabilisation.”