The mortgage market is still "very competitive", one expert has claimed.
According to Neil Johnson, public relations and policy manager at the Building Societies Association (BSA), mutual mortgage lenders still offer a wide selection of good deals.
He said: "Whilst the range of mortgages has decreased over the last twelve months, customers still have a very wide choice and it is still a very competitive market."
This selection of good quality mortgages is one of the reasons that building societies are so often ranked highly on best-buy tables, he added.
And while there is competition between banks and building societies, both offer mortgages that will appeal to different types of customers, he concluded.
Yesterday, it was announced that the government is to offer at least £50 billion in order to help mortgage lenders remove some risky loans from their books.
The move is aimed at easing the credit crisis and encouraging mortgage lenders to pass on interest rate cuts.
