The average five-year fixed rate mortgage deal has hit 6%.

In June the average five-year fix was 0.43% more expensive and the average two-year fixed rate deal increased by 0.41% to 5.08%.

About 65 residential mortgage products have dropped from the market, leaving 1,242 on the shelves.

Borrowers looking for a 90% loan-to-value - or 10% deposit down - deals have gone up 21% during June, with Britannia, Cambridge, Earl Shilton, Leek United and Saffron building societies all entering the niche market.

“Anyone looking for a new fixed rate deal needs to act fast as lenders continue to fall over each other to increase rates," Louis Kaszczak, of independent finance reviewers Moneyfacts.

“No one seems to want to offer the lowest fixed rate deal. The only positive news is for those with a small deposit, where competition is slowly returning to the market.”

Kaszczak added not many borrowers would likely take up an average five-year fix standing at 6.79% for those with a 10% deposit.

House prices dropped across a number of regions in May, according to the Land Registry.

The Halifax and Nationwide Building Society released figures suggesting the average cost of housing rose during the month, the Land Registry data came to a different conclusion.

According to the Land Registry, the average property in England and Wales dropped in value by 0.2% between April and May.

The region with the most significant annual price fall of 17.2% was the north-east, while Manchester  experienced the greatest annual drop in value with a movement of 23.8%.

Another housing market survey by Hometrack shows prices stood still in June as the number of new buyers increased.

Rising sales volumes, a dwindling supply of housing for sale and a continuing increase in demand have all contributed to the standstill.

The survey shows the number of new buyers registering with estate agents rose by 4.6% in June, the fifth monthly increase in a row.

New buyer registrations have grown by 36% since the start of the year in stark contrast to the same period last year when agents registered an 18% drop in the number of buyers on their books.

Sales have also risen by more than 80% since the start of the year, albeit from a low base.

One of the best sources of fixed rate mortgage deals is a mortgage comparison site like ours.

Mortgage borrowers were looking for a quick fix in April - with 69% of them taking out a fixed rate mortgage.

The site searches the latest mortgage deals that suit your needs by asking a few simple questions and lists them for you to pick the best for you.

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.

Borrowing for mortgages is cheaper now than since 2004, but borrowers still need large deposits to buy and overall lending remains difficult to obtain, according to the latest monthly lending survey from the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

House purchase lending accounted for 35% of all mortgage lending in March, up from 31% in February and the highest proportion since December 2007.

Remortgaging accounted for a higher number of loans in March, but the number was only 8% higher than in February and 45% lower than in March 2008.

The CML expects remortgaging to remain muted, because of attractive rates automatically cutting in for many borrowers as they come out of their existing deals, and because of reduced remortgaging opportunities for those with lower equity as a result of falling house prices.

Within house purchase lending, first-time buyers accounted for an increasing share - 40% of loans, up from 38% the previous month. This is the highest proportion since April 2005, although the absolute number of first-time buyers remains low - 12,500, up from 9,200 in February but well below the 17,800 recorded in March 2008.

First-time buyers on average borrowed three times their income and 75% of the value of their property in March. Both these average measures were unchanged from February. For those with deposits large enough to enable them to buy, the combination of low interest rates and lower house prices mean that their monthly interest payment now equates to only 15.1% of their income, the lowest proportion since June 2004 (15.1%).

There were 18,900 home mover loans in the month worth £18.9 billion, up from £14.9 billion in February - an increase of 27%, but 34% down on March 2008. The average home mover loan was £115,000, compared with £135,000 in March 2008. Interest payments typically consumed 11.4% of a home mover’s income, the lowest proportion since January 2004 (11.4%).

Commenting on the latest data, CML head of research Bob Pannell said:  "Because the flow of lending is still constrained, there is a sharp dividing line in the housing and mortgage markets between those who can raise a substantial deposit and those who can’t.

"For those who can, the burden of debt payments is low and mortgage interest is consuming proportionately less income than for a number of years. This is good news for now. Even so, a mortgage is a long term commitment. People borrowing now should be mindful of the years ahead when interest rates eventually rise, as they will."

If you are looking for a mortgage to buy or refinance, then try a comparison site like ours for the best interest rates.

If you are a first time buyer or looking to trade up, now’s the time to take some simple steps towards  picking up the keys to your dream home .

Put your finances in order

You hold the power - you have mortgage pre approval and the money to buy.

Explain to the estate agent, in a polite manner, that  plenty more estate agents and houses out there and you understand if they don’t want to do a deal but you are going to drive a hard bargain and if they don’t want to take your offer, you are going elsewhere.

Go back to your lender

If you have a bid accepted, go back to your lender and look at the deals and interest rates.

Use your pre approval as leverage and take it in to a couple of other lenders as proof one of their rivals is prepared to lend to you and see what they offer.

Now’s the time to push for the best interest rate.

Homeowners or buyers looking for a best rate mortgage deal have to sift through more than 1,500 mortgage products on offer from banks, building societies and specialist lenders.

To be precise , it’s 1,589 mortgages.

A year ago, double that number of mortgages were on offer from a lot more lenders - some of whom have disappeared or been swallowed up due to cash problems.

In those heady times, few lenders required a deposit of more than 10% to buy a new home or equity for a remortgage. Because prices were spiralling upwards fuelled by property market inflation, it didn’t seem to matter and raising a mortgage was really no hardder than signing your name on a piece of paper.

Now, the cash or equity needed to secure a best rate mortgage might as well be a king’s ransom for some people because they have no hope whatsoever in raising the cash and are ‘frozen’ out of the mortgage market.

If you have no deposit at all, only 10 mortgages are on the market. Even if you have 5%, that only adds another six to your options and at 10% deposit you have 112 mortgage products to choose from.

One way mortgage lenders are controlling the quality of their customers and the risk of a mortgage becoming a bad debt is by increasing the amount of deposit required to obtain a new mortgage.

The table below shows just how many products are available for each 5% of equity:

The best mortgage interest rates also depend on the amount of cash the borrower puts in to the deal - the best rates are for the best customers, who in the lender’s eyes are those borrowing the least percentage of money against their homes. Anyone looking for a top rate deal with a 5% deposit might as well give up right now because the juicy rates are reserved for the 60% equity customers.

Now take these equity figures and compare them with the latest completed sales figures from the Land registry and the biggest housing sale activity took place in homes priced between £50,000 and £250,000 - with 19,648 transactions in England and Wales.

The average house price for homes in England and Wales was:

To get the best rate mortgage for a terraced house, a borrower needs £56,958 equity and just over £57,000 for a semi or flat. This may be achievable for someone who has lived in a property for a long time or has substantial savings, but for the average first time buyer, pinning hopes on a low rate mortgage is a pipedream.

The fact is mortgage lenders are trying to lure borrowers with headline grabbing low rates that most can never hope to claim because they are shut out by lack of cash.

Finding a best rate mortgage deal is easy - just use a mortgage comparison site like ours, but getting an offer might take a little more work.

Banks bailed out by British taxpayers are offering cheaper mortgages to customers outside the UK than those back home.

To find the current best deals, tryour mortgage comparison site, which searches the market in minutes and returns a list of up-to-the-minute products offered by a wide range of mortgage lenders.

Banks and building societies plan to open their coffers and lend more money to homeowners in the coming months, according to the Bank of England.

The only certainty in the current market is no one can predict if and when house prices will stop falling.

Banks and building societies are just like any other business - their advertising is aimed at grabbing your attention, so many set a ‘best mortgage rate’ deal to bait the honey trap.

According to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), in January 2009, the latest month statistics for which statistics are available, 67,400 mortgages were offered - 23,400 to first time buyers and movers and 44,000 as remortgages.

The average deposit for home movers was 35%, according to the CML - the figures are highlighted in the table.

You can use this table to get some idea of much you need to go to a lender for a mortgage - and to find a mortgage that suits your needs, you can use our mortgage comparison service.