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Competitive mortgages 'still available'

There are still highly competitive mortgage deals available to borrowers despite the present financial circumstances, an analyst has suggested.

Mortgage customers may be facing challenges ahead, but the outlook is not as bleak as has been suggested, Francis Ghiloni, marketing and business development director from online mortgage company mform.co.uk told Reuters.

Those people about to exit two, three and five year fixed-rate deals may experience higher payments - but increases in the valuation of their property will mean their equity has also risen, Mr Ghiloni added.

Present market conditions have forced lenders to reassess their position, and avoid cheap rate deals or interest-only mortgages so as to decrease levels of risk.

However, Ghiloni says that panic surrounding a potential UK house price crash in a similar vein to the US is "unhelpful and speculative."

He commented: "Worse still, the doom-mongers' predictions could become a self-fulfilling prophecy: if borrowers become scared that prices will fall they will be less willing to invest and the fall will happen anyway."

Equally, the US market actually showed signs of stability yesterday as estate agents announced the first rise in existing home sales in seven months, the Guardian reports.

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