More than 3,000 types of mortgage now on offer

There are currently 3,100 different mortgage deals on offer, 42 per cent more than when the market hit its low point in July last year, according to moneysupermarket.com But the amount of choice available to consumers is still well down on levels seen before the credit crunch struck, with 28,413 different loans available in June 2007.

The most significant growth in product availability has been to five-year fixed rate deals, with choice in that area soaring 10-fold during the past year.

Hannah-Mercedes Skenfield, mortgage manager at moneysupermarket.com, said: "The financial crisis really hit the mortgage market hard, with the number of products falling by a massive 92 per cent.

"It is encouraging for consumers that banks and building societies are starting to return to the market. Over the past couple of months we have also started to see some relaxation in the number of products for borrowers with small deposits, with a number of lenders reintroducing products offering 85 per cent and 90 per cent mortgages."

Financial information group Moneyfacts.co.uk said it had also seen a steep increase in mortgage availability since the beginning of the year. Its said that there are currently 2,473 different mortgages available, up from 1,601 in January.