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Overall there are only 3,281 mortgage products currently available, the lowest number we have witnessed since the onslaught of the credit crunch, Moneyfacts.co.uk said.

Darren Cook, mortgage expert at Moneyfacts.co.uk, said: "During the mortgage boom, products were driven by pricing and there was minimal margins attributed to risk or probable default.

"We now see that the market is becoming largely risk driven, which is evident from the demise of many products with loan-to-values of between 95 and 90 per cent."

Cook added that many lenders were hedging their bets against the chance of negative equity and diminishing values of supporting security by requiring a minimum deposit of 40 per cent.

"Mortgages with a maximum loan to value of 60 per cent have increased by 84 per cent to 155 products and unfortunately for borrowers, this is where the better rates are to be found today."

Cook added: "The difficulties lie in the lack of liquidity within the market and providers having no appetite or being unable to lend on a larger scale. In essence, the price list shows that mortgages are getting a little cheaper, but the stock rooms are currently nearly empty."

Moneyfacts.co.uk highlighted that 10 lenders have already announced that they will be passing on the full 0.50 per cent Bank of England base rate cut to their standard variable rates (SVRs).

These include Halifax, Woolwich, Cheltenham & Gloucester and Royal Bank of Scotland.