Tracker mortgages

According to moneysupermarket.com, the number of such products available on the UK market has fallen by 81 per cent compared with this time last year.

This fall was significantly higher than the 46 per cent reduction in the number of fixed-rate home loans available.

The organisation said that the most significant decline has been in the number of one-year products available.

It claimed that, while 522 such products were on the market on July 1st 2008, only two remain.

Louise Cuming, head of mortgages at moneysupermarket.com, commented: "Whilst it may not be surprising to see lenders pulling these products, it is a stark reminder that lenders call the tune and competition is no longer the name of the game."

She added that the banks and building societies which had the largest number of tracker products on their books were hit the most by the large falls in the UK's base rate of interest.

Currently, the base rate stands at 0.5 per cent, although there is speculation that it will rise as the economy begins to pick up.