Woolwich has announced a one-year tracker mortgage at 1.98% up to 60% LTV, available from brokers or direct. After one year it tracks Barclays Base Rate +2.49%.

There are also two- and three-year fixed rate mortgages available for both new and existing Woolwich customers.

Announcements like these from the Woolwich and other lenders do suggest that the mortgage market may be easing and lenders are keen to attract quality borrowers.

Interesting data released by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) shows that lenders have pledged £38bn in new mortgage lending.

This is £10bn more than was pledged this time last year. Lending for house purchase now accounts for more new lending than remortgages for the first time since late 2007, the FSA says.

In Quarter 2, House purchase lending represented over half of new advances at 51%, and 55% of new lending commitments with Fixed-rate deals accounting for 65% of new lending volumes.

Hoever, the data also shows how steep the fall has been in high LTV lending with the proportion of new lending at over 90% LTV has fallen from its 2007 peak of 15%, to 6% in late 2008 and just under 3% in Quarter 2.

Overall there is optimism that these new commitments suggest the market has stopped falling and may now be picking up, helped by lower interest rates and improved confidence amongst borrowers

New research claims that mortgage arrangement fees charged by banks and building societies have fallen by around 25% during the past year.

The average fee charged to borrowers taking out a two-year fixed rate mortgage has dropped from £1,243 in 2008 to under £1000 now, according to financial website moneysupermarket.com.

This news comes hot on the heels of the Low Cost Housing Range introduced by the Halifax and the fall in the fees is seen as a further sign that the impact of the credit crunch is beginning to ease.

If you’re one of the borrowers who took out an interest-only mortgage expecting that the increase in property prices would help you to pay off your loan then the recent drop in house prices may have scuppered your plans.

At the peak of the market buyers turned to interest-only loans as a way of meeting mortgage payments on desirable properties they could not otherwise afford to own.

Others were first-time buyers desperate to get on the property ladder. In 2006 and 2007, more than 30,000 families a month were signing up for interest-only deals. Of these around 20,000 said they had no way of repaying the capital on their loan.

Mortgage Lenders allowed these loans because they too were convinced house prices would keep rising.

Borrowers with interest-only mortgages may find it difficult to move homes because of the erosion of the equity value in their present home.