Record number of mortgages taken off sale as lenders respond to chancellor's mini budget

Hundreds of residential mortgage products were removed from public listings on Tuesday, as the fallout from Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng's mini budget continues to wreak havoc on markets.

In total, 935 products were taken off the market - the highest daily fall on record - according to the Moneyfacts Group.

The number is also more than double the previous fall of 462, which occurred when the UK started to be affected by Covid lockdowns.

Shortly before Mr Kwarteng announced his tax cutting strategy, last Friday, there were some 3,961 residential mortgage products available to buy.

But that number has now dwindled to 2,661 as of Wednesday morning after some lenders reacted to market uncertainty.

The chancellor has insisted he is "confident" his tax cutting strategy - including scrapping the 45p rate of income tax for people on more than £150,000 - will help to boost the UK's economic growth.

News of the record fall in mortgages comes after banks and building societies withdrew hundreds of products from sale, on Tuesday.

Virgin Money, Halifax and The Skipton Building Society have all pulled mortgages from sale.

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Halifax said it has temporarily withdrawn all mortgages that come with a fee, while Virgin Money revealed it too has "temporarily withdrawn Virgin Money mortgage products for new business customers".

In order to "reprice" the Skipton Building Society announced that it had pulled its offers for new customers.

International pressure is mounting on the chancellor to change course on his economic policies, with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) issuing an extraordinary statement, late on Tuesday.

It said it was “closely monitoring” developments in the UK and was in touch with the authorities, urging the chancellor to “reevaluate the tax measures”.

Mr Kwarteng has been warned that his plans are likely to increase inequality within the UK, with the IMF adding it does "not recommend large and untargeted fiscal packages at this juncture".

Meanwhile, the Bank of England (BoE) has said it's ready to swell interest rates to protect the pound, after it fell to a record low against the dollar.

On Monday, sterling dropped to its lowest level against the dollar since decimalisation in 1971.