There was increase in the number of loans that were approved during the month of May by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) in comparison to the month of April. This increase was approximately 4% and the house purchases rose to 37,400.

At the same time, we should mention, that the volumes were lower, to 28-percent, than a year earlier in comparison to May figures for the last several years.

There were many May remortgaging volumes that fell some 9-percent than the previous month and approximately down some 60% over the same period last year.

One of the major reasons that this demand continued to fall was the switchover from the fact that many borrowers where changing from the more standard fixed rates to some of the lucrative standard variable rates that are out on the market.

The first time buyer lending information remained steady during the month of May, with the deposit used by first-time buyers standing on an average of 25-percent. 2.97 was the average income multiple that was recorded during the month of April.

One of the issues encountered was that tighter loan-to-value ratios and lower house prices resulted in some homeowners that were in the process of seeking remortgage had a problem of accessing good deals.

The mortgage product barometer is one way of showing how the house price plunge and recession has affected the mortgage market and the best interest rates available.

Mortgage comparison sites have a choice of 1,195 products available for first time buyers.

Then look for the mortgage with the least frills, add-ons and conditions.

For instance, if a lender is bundling mortgage protection insurance or buildings insurance with a mortgage, they are still making the same profit by offering a reduced interest by charging for the other products.

Start your search for the best rate mortgage on our mortgage comparison site.

Plunging property prices may have hit rock-bottom according to the new man at the Bank of England who has a reputation for picking housing market winners.

So, what’s the summer end of term report for mortgage lenders?

They certainly could try harder and play a better role in the market instead of protecting their own interests by tightening loans and protecting their profits by boosting margins.

Homeowners locked in to long term fixed rate deals are often asking our advisers whether to dump their current mortgage or stay put with the lender.

The answer is it depends.

First, latest figures show remortgages are down 58% year-on-year and that lenders are not keen to approve mortgages for homeowners because no one is yet quite sure whether house prices have actually stopped falling or not.

Next, if you want to dump a high fixed rate – some people are paying 6.5% – 7% for five-year fixes taken out a year or so ago, then you need to consider any early redemption fees.

Typically, these could be £2,500 – £3,000 on top of the money borrowed.

Then, you want to make sure the rate your can fix at now gives you a saving taking in to account the costs of getting out of the other deal.

Lastly, take a conservative view of your property value. The best fixed rate remortgages are at 75% loan-to-value or lower, which means if you have a £100,000 remortgage and have to pay up to £5,000 to remortgage, your house price has to be £140,000 or more.

According to property price research by Fitch Ratings, some areas of the country are locked out of remortgaging at any cost – for instance the East Midlands from Northampton to Derby and Nottingham and across to Lincoln and Leicester.

Other places where remortgaging may be difficult include Manchester and the North West.

Another factor any prospective remortgage applicant has to take in to account is that lenders are rejecting 16% of all proposals, even from borrowers with good credit records.

If you have anything less than a perfect credit record, applying is probably not worth the while.

If you feel all your ducks line up and that you can get a remortgage deal approved, then there’s no time like the present as mortgage rates are as low as they are ever likely to be and waiting is going to see rates rise and close the differential between any savings you may make in the long term.

Finding a mortgage is relatively straightforward – clinching the deal is something else.

To find the current best rate mortgage deals, just search a mortgage comparison site like ours.

You can search all the best remortgage rates in seconds.

You should carefully work out your sums including all the relevant fees and charges for ending your current mortgage and taking on a new one.

The headline interest rates may look attractive, but once you include lender fees, a valuation and any other charges, the chance of making anything other than a moderate saving are not very likely.

At the end of the day, you might just have to bite the bullet and swallow the cost rather than turning in to a mortgage rate tart and trying to switch deals or lenders.

The only other option is perhaps discussing the situation with your lender and asking if they will switch you off the fixed rate, which is unlikely.

Mortgage lenders are turning away more than 16,000 borrowers – about one in five of the total number of application – every month despite media advertising offering low interest rate fixed rate mortgage deals, new figures from the Bank of England show.

If you are looking for a mortgage, then consider a mortgage comparison site like ours to find the best interest rates and loan options.

Keeping up with the property market is taking some doing this month as several market ‘trackers’ announced their latest findings.

The Halifax has reported home prices increased by 2.6% in May, pushing the price of the average UK home up by more than £4,000 to £158,565.

The jump helped to reduce the annual rate of decline in prices to 13.6%, from 17.8% in April.

This is only the third time prices have gone up in the past 21 months, according to the Halifax.

Nationwide data, based on the building society’s mortgage loans, showed that prices rose by 1.2 % in May, the second monthly rise since March.

Property intelligence group Hometrack said house prices remained unchanged in May, the first time in 20 months their data has not recorded price falls

The Land Registry says the price of the average home in England and Wales dropped 0.3% to £152,898, the smallest monthly drop in nearly a year.

However, property values were still 16.2% below April 2008, just below February’s record decline of 16.4%.

Land Registry figures are based on actual home sales, although they exclude the sales of new-build homes and properties worth less than £40,000.

Nitesh Patel, housing economist at Halifax, said: “Historically, house prices have not moved in the same direction month after month, even during a pronounced downturn.”

But she added there were signs the market was stabilising, with Bank of England figures showing that the number of mortgages approved for homebuyers rose to a one-year high of 43,201 in April — though this was still 22% fewer than in April last year.

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said that house prices could be propped up by a shortfall in supply as sellers, reluctant to accept a lower price, delay putting their homes on the market.

All but the most cash-rich first-time buyers have been squeezed out of the market as lenders demand hefty deposits before allowing them to qualify for the most competitive deals.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders said that the average first-time buyer is now paying a deposit of 25%, meaning that the price rise in May added £731 to the bill for a down payment for prospective buyers.

Interpreting the state of the market is difficult  – but the reports appear to show that price falls are slowing, more borrowers are looking to buy and lenders are agreeing more mortgages – but activity is nowhere near top of the market levels of a year or two ago.

Finding mortgages is still tough if borrowers don’t have at least a 25% cash deposit for buying or an equal amount of equity for remortgaging.

If you are looking for the best rate mortgage or best rate remortgage, your best bet is still to consider a mortgage comparison site.

Rates and products are coming on and off the market quickly and searching out the best deals is easier on the web rather than spending hours tramping the high streets.

The number of homebuyers, including first time buyers,  signing up for new mortgages was up again in April – for the third month in a row.

The National Estate Agents Association is also reporting that their members are reporting increased sales – but then they have a vested interest and don’t point out that many estate agents have closed in the past 12 months, so presumably the sales would increase in the offices left.

Every borrower wants to pay off their mortgage early – and a loan product that may help you do this is an offset mortgage.

Many lenders are pushing offset mortgages in TV advertising, so here’s a guide on how the scheme works.

The offset principle reduces the balance at various times throughout the life of the mortgage and the amount of interest paid, so more of the the monthly mortgage repayment goes towards paying off the capital or amount borrowed.

This way, the borrowing is reducing quicker than a traditional capital and repayment mortgage.

The lending terms for offset mortgages are much the same as those for other mortgages, so a first time buyer or a homeowner looking for a remortgage will have to meet the same qualifying criteria as for any other loan.

Only three in every ten would-be first time buyers believe they ever have a hope of owning a home.

Most feel the lenders and government inaction have pulled the property ladder out from under them and that their chance to climb back on will never come, according to a survey by Property Live, a home selling portal.

The Property Live research revealed that first time buyers have to find a 25% cash deposit to even get a lender to let them through the door to talk about a mortgage – let alone make an offer.

The problem stems from two factors -

• Banks and building societies want a bigger deposit to lessen their exposure to risk from homeowners who cannot afford to repay their loans and to make sure they are not left with a property in negative equity as they market keeps falling

• The Bank of Mum and Dad, who traditionally finance a lot of first time home purchases with a gift deposit raised from remortgaging their own houses can no longer raise cash because do not have enough equity to borrow more

The research shows that 65% of would-be first-time buyers believe they will never be able to afford their own home, with the figure rising as high as 92% in some places.

Only 15% of those who do expect to eventually buy their own homes feel it will happen in the next two years.

And 5% of those questioned did not expect to be able to buy a home for five years or more.

The Nationwide Building Society index showed house prices fell by an average 0.4% in April, with the year-on-year drop standing at 15% less than last April.

Last month, mortgage lending dropped back £1 billion according to Bank of England figures, to the lowest monthly figure for many years.

Lenders are still publicising low rate headline mortgage products for first time buyers as well as other home buyers – you can easily find what is currently available by checking a mortgage comparison site like ours.

Searching our site will return the best rate first time buyer and remortgage products matched to your personal needs from across the mortgage market in seconds.

Some lenders are trying to attract first time buyers by offering mortgages with conditions – that involve tying cash tied up in a bank savings account paying a miserable rate of interest.

It could be these lenders have an ulterior motive in trying to attract savings because currently only deposit taking banks and building societies can raise any cash to lend on the wholesale money markets and by basing their borrowings on other people’s savings, they could be trying to sidestep exposure to future risks.

Banks and building societies are lending less money despite billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money paid out to keep them in business.

The Bank of England says that mortgage lending is at an eight year low – with the amount of loans offered in April £1 billion down on March.
 
Much of the decline is due to borrowers tending to stay on their lender’s standard rate rather than remortgaging to a better mortgage rate at the end of a fixed or other special rate deal.

Many are locked out of remortgaging because the equity – the mortgage free part of their home’s value – is too high to qualify for new borrowing as lenders tighten up lending criteria.

The Bank of England’s figures are in line with those issued by the Council of Mortgage Lenders, which shows a 9% drop in mortgage advances for April.

The Bank said data from the UK’s six biggest lenders showed mortgage applications had risen over recent months with buyers returning to the market.

Mortgage acceptance rates were broadly unchanged since the start of the year, although approvals for house purchases rose during April, building on increases seen in February and March.

The survey also showed that the rate at which unsecured lending – like credit cards and loans – is growing was the lowest since 1992 during for the period January 1 – March 31.

Unsecured lending acceptance rates by lenders were little changed during April and demand remained weak.

Interest rates fell slightly during March, although during the past six months they have fallen by ‘considerably less’ than the Bank of England base rate and inter-bank lending rate Libor.

Part-nationalised banks, like Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group have announced multibillion-pound loan allocations for mortgage and business customers in return for state support.

HSBC, which has not received help from taxpayers, has also pledged to boost mortgage lending this year.

Despite these promises, the money for borrowers is more of a drip than a flood and little of the cash has hit the property market – and on the figures above, is decreasing.

Finding a mortgage can still be a daunting task unless borrowers have at least a 10% deposit – and with many lenders this is still not enough to get their best rate mortgages.

For prospective borrowers looking to buy or remortgage, a mortgage comparison site like ours can reveal the current best rate mortgages in seconds.

You can also use our site to look for the cheapest loan deals and best credit card deals.