It’s hardly surprising that there has been a sharp fall in the number of mortgage products on offer. With the cost of money for banks rising most of the specialist lenders have culled their heavy and medium adverse products. The prospects therefore for those homeowners unfortunate enough to fall into this category have become very gloomy indeed.

Figures released by the two leading mortgage sourcing systems reveal that the number of products has fallen by a dramatic 40% since the credit crunch hit last summer.
Trigold now shows 40,000 products on its system and Mortgage Brain 24,000.

The end of the era of cheap debt means that fewer aspiring homeowners will be tempted to borrow too much, but when they do decide to take the plunge they will need the services of an independent broker more than ever.

With fewer products to choose from- although 40,000 is still a decent number- borrowers need to be certain that they are getting the best deal and who better than their friendly independent broker to advise them?