Mortgage deal choice rose for the first time since July to 6,645 deals, while the average product shelf life remained steady at 21 days.
With the exception of July and August, this is the highest count since February 2008, when mortgage deal volumes reached 6,760.
Deal volumes have increased substantially over the last two weeks, according to the Moneyfacts Mortgage Trends Treasury Report, with almost treble the products available now versus October 2022.
Month-on-month, one of the largest loan-to-value (LTV) tiers to rise in choice was at 60% LTV (775), now at its highest count on Moneyfacts’ records. There was also growth in tiers at 90% and 95%.
Mortgage rates fall
Meanwhile, average mortgage rates on overall two- and five-year fixed rate deals fell month-on-month by 0.16% and 0.13% respectively.
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The overall average two- and five-year fixed rates fell between the start of September and the start of October to 5.4% and 5.07% respectively, taking them to their lowest level since May 2023.
The average two-year fixed rate is 0.33% higher than the five-year equivalent.
The two-year fixed rate has now been higher than the five-year equivalent since October 2022.
The average two-year tracker variable mortgage has fallen slightly to 5.67%, while standard variable rates (SVRs) rest at 7.96% on average.
Market pricing uncertainty
Rachel Springall, finance expert at Moneyfacts, said: “These moves show the promising attitude of lenders to draw in new customers, which may be even more pressing as we edge closer to any of their end-of-year targets.
“Last month, falling swap rates encouraged lenders to cut rates, but a combination of the looming Budget, concerns over inflation and other global influences can result in market pricing uncertainty. However, there are still expectations for the Bank of England base rate to drop further before the year is over.”
She added: “Lenders will no doubt be watching the markets closely, so they may react to changes suddenly. As a result, as we have seen in the past, some deals could be pulled as lenders try to assess their current margins.”
Swap rates rose to above 4% last week, which brokers suggested would put an end to the brief mortgage rate war among lenders.
