Competition returned to the mortgage market in the final quarter of 2009, according to research from Evaluate Technologies, which revealed a breakdown of the most competitive mortgage lenders.
In first place was Alliance & Leicester, part of Spanish banking giant Santander. Despite not having any products in best buy tables during the previous quarter, it appeared 23 times in comparison charts during the final quarter of the year.
Online bank First Direct notched up 19 appearances, slightly ahead of Woolwich, which had 15. In fourth place was HSBC with 14 appearances, in spite of it holding the top spot during the third quarter.
Banks noticeably absent from the final quarter’s most competitive list were Royal Bank of Scotland and NatWest as well as all Lloyds Banking Group brands.
A number of smaller, regional building societies also made the list – Mansfield Building Society had eight mentions, Britannia scored seven and Principality Building Society took in nine.
Northern Rock was also present in the tables, named the 10th most competitive lender at the end of 2009.
Julie Speed, national accounts director at Evaluate, commented: “The changes taking place at the top of the best-buy tables indicate a good degree of competition in the mortgage market, which is going to be key to supporting the property market in 2010. Brokers will have been particularly pleased to see Alliance & Leicester's emergence, showing that lenders value the intermediary market.”
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