Long-term mortgage deals 'no longer available'

According to one firm, many lenders are now deserting long-term mortgage deals.

Gordon Brown announced in July 2007 that longer term fixed-rate mortgages would help to stabilise the housing market, Moneyfacts.co.uk explains.

Following this statement, many lenders, such as Halifax, Nationwide, the Co-operative Bank and Norwich & Peterborough began to offer 25-year deals.

However, the market for these mortgages has now disappeared and they are no longer on offer to customers.

Darren Cook, a spokesperson for Moneyfacts.co.uk, said that with few funds available, "lenders are concentrating on their core business of shorter term deals".

"Only nine lenders are offering ten year deals, with the majority of the market offering deals of no longer than five years," he added.

Earlier this week, the Council of Mortgage Lenders released its June gross lending figures and revealed that the amount of money borrowed in the second quarter of the year totalled £33.3 billion.