Measures introduced by the Bank of England to help ease the credit crunch are beginning to have an effect on the mortgage market, it has been claimed.
Michael Coogan, director-general of the Council of Mortgage Lenders, explained that while mortgage approval data is still week, the Special Liquidity Scheme introduced in April seems to be making mortgages cheaper.
"Since the introduction of the Special Liquidity Scheme, there has been a slight improvement in credit market conditions with Libor moving in a more helpful direction," he said.
However, Libor is still high when compared to the Bank of England base rate and the full effect of the Special Liquidity scheme will take time to filter through to the mortgage market, he added.
Yesterday, John Charcol's Mortgage Monitor revealed that 78 per cent of mortgages taken out in April were on a fixed rate basis.
According to Katie Tucker, technical manager for the firm, such rates were popular as the deals tend to be cheaper than the tracker-rate mortgages currently on offer.





