Moneyfacts mortgage facts

Denise Harvey, mortgage analyst at Moneyfacts.co.uk, comments "Two weeks on from the base rate cut 38 lenders (38%) have announced that they will cut their SVR. The majority of lenders have passed on the full 0.25% cut however five have cut their SVRs by less than 0.25%, including Northern Rock which has only passed on a 0.10% cut.

"Although many of the lenders have been quick to pass on the cut in base rate, 43% of them do not have any products linked to SVR. Of the lenders who have the most SVR linked products, the top seven have still not announced their intentions post April's base rate cut.

"Currently the average SVR rate stands at 7.11%. It is disappointing to see that almost half of the top 10 lenders have SVR rates above average, with Northern Rock the worst offender with an SVR rate of 7.49%, which ties in with its business strategy. Despite these quick responses, the range of mortgage products offered by these lenders will be largely unaffected as only six products from three lenders are linked to SVR.

"A surprising fact is the number of mortgage lenders offering products at rates higher than their SVR. Today 21 lenders offer at least one full status residential product higher than their SVR including three of the top 10 lenders.

"Despite the Bank of England cutting base rate this month, we have already seen 26 mortgage lenders hike margins on variable tracker rates available to new borrowers, some by as much as 1.20%.

"The average variable tracker rate for new borrowers has increased by 0.28% in the last month alone, from 6.23% to 6.51%.

"The average two and five year fixed rate mortgages have also shot up in the last month, two year rates rising from 6.29% to 6.52% and five year rates from 6.12% to 6.37%.

"Mortgage product numbers continue to decline. At the beginning of the year there were 7,931 mortgage products available; today there are just 3,906, a drop of nearly 50%.

"At the beginning of the year there were 862 mortgages available to 95% LTV; now there are 268.

Not all bad news......

"According to the CML, 35% of existing borrowers are on variable tracker rate mortgages, they will have seen rates drop by 0.50% in the last three months.

"All borrowers still on an initial rate and not looking for a new deal will have seen their rates either drop or stay the same (depending on whether they are on a variable or fixed rate deal)."