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The Co-operative Bank will be launching the cheapest five-year fixed-rate mortgage currently on offer at 3.99 % from Thursday.
The mortgage has a £999 fee and is available up to 75 % loan-to-value. The rate is also available from Britannia, part of the Co-op

The Nationwide Building Society also reduced the cost of a range of its five-year fixed mortgages by up to 0.31 % today. Nationwide’s cheapest five-year fix is now 4.88 %, available up to 70 % loan-to-value with a £896 fee The next best-buy five-year fixed rate mortgage is from First Direct at 4.29 %. It has a £998 fee and is available up to 65 % loan-to-value.

A new mortgage has been launched to help First Time Buyers. The market leading mortgage is a two-year tracker which tracks the Bank of England base rate at 0.01% below bank base rate.
The ultra Low-Start tracker, currently with a pay rate of 0.49%, is available for loans between £25,000 and £750,000 and at between 85% and 90% LTV.
But the tracking rate of 0.01% below base rate only lasts until the end of this year when the rate jumps to base rate plus 5.49% until July 31 2012.

Aaron Strutt, broker with Trinity Financial Group, says: “The rate is low now, but there is still quite a large chance that base rate might go up. Brokers just want some more normal rates, ideally for two-year fixes.”
The move follows the decision last week from Lloyds Banking Group, C&G’s parent company, to cap its interest-only mortgages at £500,000.
The lender has also changed its policy on what is considered an acceptable repayment vehicle for interest-only mortgages, with the sale of a house or business or an inheritance no longer permitted.

The amount of mortgage borrowers behind with arrears fell in the first quarter of 2010 according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

The total number of mortgages in arrears was down from 206,800 at the end of the first quarter of 2009 and 196,400 at the end of last year to 186,300 at the end of the first quarter of this year. In addition, the CML also said  that repossessions also fell in the first three months of 2010 compared to the previous quarter.
The CML said that the respite in arrears and repossessions may prove temporary as interest rate and tax rises are likely over the medium term. “The dampening effects on households and the wider housing market that fiscal tightening is likely to exert are still to be felt, but it should be a priority to support borrowers most in need and maintain funding for the Government’s housing policies,” said Michael Coogan, CML’s director general. “We expect to be able to revise down our 53,000 2010 forecast for repossessions, but we are conscious of the beneficial influence that low interest rates and the support package have played so far,” he added.

The Mortgage Works is giving the buy-to-let sector a boost by increasing its LTV from 70% to 80% on its core rangeThe specialist arm of Nationwide is now offering one-year fixed rates from 4.69% with a 2.5% arrangement fee or a 5.69% deal with a 1.5% arrangement fee.
Other options include a one-year tracker at 4.69% with a 2.5% arrangement fee and a two-year fixed rate at 5.99% with a 2.5% arrangement fee, all up to 80% LTV.

Tracie Pearce, head of products at The Mortgage Works says the increase in the LTV on its buy-to-let range demonstrates its commitment to supporting the housing market.�
She says: “We are the only lender to offer this level of borrowing which will help landlords without a large deposit.  The Mortgage Works continues to have a long standing prudent approach to lending, offering landlords and intermediaries access to innovative, flexible mortgage solutions. Mike Fitzgerald, sales director at Emba group, says: “TMW has a can do attitude and are more helpful then some lenders when it comes to submitting a case. With house prices starting to creep up again now is a good time for it to increase its LTV. It should also help to move the buy-to-let market along and encourage other lenders to increase their LTVs and re-enter the market.
David Whittaker, managing director of Mortgages for Business, says: “Finally we’re seeing a lender move the pieces on the chess board in a positive way. We’ve been waiting for two years for upbeat news in the buy–to-let market and TMW have made it clear they feel as optimistic as we do about buy to let’s future.
“Many portfolio landlords have been unable to expand over the last 18 months as they have reached their maximum with the mainstream lenders.
“They will welcome the news that alternative options at higher LTVs are becoming available. It will be interesting to see how other lenders react to this move from TMW. I’m sure they will follow suit, what’s not certain is how quickly they’ll decide to do so.”

Santander UK has announced  its gross mortgage lending grew to £5.7bn for the first quarter of this year, with the bank underwriting an estimated one in five mortgages.

Its results showed that its profits grew by over 15% to £426m, with revenue up 8%.
The Spanish-owned bank said the quality of its prime residential portfolio and reduced exposure to unsecured lending put it in a ‘robust position’, despite the economic climate. Net mortgage lending stood at £1.5bn, while it increased lending to SMEs by over 18% compared to Q1 last year.

Mark Alexander, managing director of The Money Centre, said: “I’m delighted Santander is doing so well, as hopefully that will be reflected in pricing going forward.
However, I am worried that the bigger lenders have too big a monopoly and are profiteering. It will be nice to see other lenders come into the market and give the bigger lenders some genuine competition.

The Bank of England has revealed that mortgage approvals have crept up in March to 48,901

Approvals in March were just over 2000 higher than the figure for February but are still below the previous six-month average of 54,201.
Remortgage approvals also rose from 27,257 in February to 27,880 in March, and are also up compared to average over the last six months of 25,853.

Mortgage Advice Bureau spokesman Brian Murphy stated: “More and more borrowers are starting to take action to protect themselves from possible interest rate rises and this is reflected in the increased number of remortgages.”
“For those that can remortgage, that area of the market is certainly beginning to improve.”
But Murphy says that though the Bank may want to keep the base rate low it may not be able to hold off the rise in inflation.
He says: “Although loan approvals have risen, there may well be a slowdown in mortgage activity in the April and May data, as many prospective buyers are currently putting everything on hold until there is greater clarity around how the next parliament, hung or otherwise, will deal with the deficit.”