Slight increase in 90% mortgage availability

Category: Mortgages
Date: 7/3/2009

Figures from Moneyfacts.co.uk have revealed that the number of 90 per cent loan-to-value (LTV) mortgages has increased slightly in the last month.

There are now 119 such deals from banks and building societies, up from 101 at the start of June.

While there were far more mortgages that required just a ten per cent deposit a year ago, the small relaxation in lending is positive news for first time buyers or potential homeowners who do not have a sizeable deposit.

"It is encouraging to see that products in the 90 per cent LTVs are creeping up," said Darren Cook, analyst at Moneyfacts.co.uk.

"The increase is not enough to signal that mortgage providers are returning to a healthy or normal appetite to lend.

It is more of an indication that they are re-expanding their product ranges again after reducing them to a bare minimum, when the future prospects and attitudes towards risk looked extremely bleak."