Check out my guns!

Arnie, man of a million guns, the ultimate killing machine and all out action super hero of the 80s/90s. I must confess, I am feeling a little like him right now. Not because I have just killed 27 people with an oozy nine millimetre with laser sighting (although sometimes conversations with Woolwich service centres push you close!), but because I am feeling pretty well armed at the moment. The mortgage broker is being given a little more variety again.

As of next week, I will be armed with 95% residential purchase deals, 90% market leading deals starting from a 4.49% tracker for 2 years and even 85% buy to let deals. Now that is an armoury even Stallone would feel good with. I feel like I am being given the ammunition to single handedly start things moving again in the purchase market. The tools to help first time buyers that have been frustrated so long. The weapons that experienced buy to let landlords have been waiting for, to start expanding their portfolios again. Sure, the rates are not amazing, but it is a start.

This week has seen the seeds being planted that will help the mortgage market blossom and the purchase market gain momentum. Northern Rock chancing a 90% product, NatWest trying the same. As each lender dips their toe back into the higher loan to value (LTVs) I really couldn't care what the rate is if I am honest. The fact is, the more that start to do this, the greater the competition. And with greater competition comes price wars and soon we will have rates at 90% borrowing lowering further, because lenders start to get ambition and want to gain market share again.

One of the most commonly used phrases in the mortgage industry has been "green shoots". I hate it. Its an annoying phrase and one that was used for years to give us hope a revival was on its way. But, do you know what? I think it might be. As more and more lenders start to dip their toe in the sea of high LTVs the more confidence builds and the more that will follow. In 2008 lenders started to withdraw products so fast, it was almost impossible to keep up! We lost 93% of the buy to let products we had available in 2007/8 in 2009. There was a mass exodus!

Think of the scene in Jaws, when they all rush out of the sea at the sight of what they thought was a shark...then slowly, one person re-enters the sea for a swim. Followed by another. Then another one in a really dodgy pair of Speedos. Eventually the sea starts to fill up again as confidence grows.

I can see this happening in the mortgage market now. More and more lenders edging up their LTVs and giving us a few more options. Good times, whilst  a way off yet, are certainly going to be back at some point, and the emergence of more and more lenders offering 90% deals and even 95% will help us regain some much needed confidence in a housing market that has taken more punches than Bruno did against Tyson. Smaller deposits will see the first time buyers re-entering the market. It will see chains starting again, and see the property market finally making a comeback almost as good as that of Take That's.

Watch this space. I think we are turning the corner...at last.