Within days, new mortgage deals are being withdrawn

Mortgage agreements are usually available for only 15 days before they are removed, even though purchasers and homeowners have had the most options for 16 years.

Moneyfacts, a financial information service, claims that this has the lowest shelf-life in six months.

People therefore don't have much time to determine when rates are variable.

When a fixed mortgage expires, typically after two or five years, and is replaced with a new one, the interest rate remains unchanged. If nothing were done, customers would be forced to pay a variable rate, which is highly costly.

Approximately 1.6 million current borrowers must decide since their comparatively low-cost fixed-rate agreements expire this year.

Before they consider moving into a new property, prospective first-time buyers need to get a new mortgage agreement.

Trying to forecast the movement of mortgage rates, or the interest that is tacked on to a house loan, leaves a lot of people dissatisfied. Rate changes by lenders have been happening quickly as the markets attempt to forecast whether the Bank of England would lower the benchmark interest rate, which has a major impact on the cost of borrowing for many different kinds of loans.

Investors believe that the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee will maintain rates on Thursday and that this year's base rate of 5.25% will see fewer, later revisions than initially projected. This rate is at a 16-year high; reductions make borrowing more affordable.

The present mortgage market is comparable to shopping in a hypermarket for people seeking a new mortgage, except that everything on the shelf is quickly becoming outdated. The option has often been closer to that of a convenience shop.

According to Moneyfacts, there were 6,000 mortgage packages available as of the beginning of March, the most since 2008.

Lenders now provide a wider selection of programs that may include extras like rebates, and - most importantly for many first-time buyers- have additional options for borrowers who can only provide a small down payment.

The issue is that offers are only available for a short period of time due to market volatility. The average of 15 days is just marginally higher than the record low of 12 days set in July, and far lower than the 28 days at the beginning of February.

Lenders may quickly back out of a contract if they know what their competitors are up to.

(Sources: bbc.co.uk)