The number of mortgage products available to intermediaries has increased by 87% over the past 12 months, according to Mortgage Brain’s latest Monthly Product Analysis.

This takes the total number of live mortgage schemes listed on its mortgage sourcing system from 7,519 to 14,052, as of 5 December 2011.

There were 10 consecutive monthly increases over the year although slight declines were seen in October and November.

Out of the industry’s three main product types, variable rate products – despite representing the least number of mortgage products – witnessed the best overall performance throughout 2011.

A 3% increase during November signified a third consecutive monthly increase for the product type and has contributed to a 120% increase in product availability during the past 12 months. Current figures (as of 5 December) now list 2,329 products compared to 1,058, which were listed this time last year.

Little movement in the availability of trackers was seen during November 2011 however, a 108% increase in overall availability during the past year also shows positive progress of the long term performance of this product type.

Fixed rate products, which remain the most popular product type, accounting for 8,294 of all available products, rose by 72% since this time last year following the introduction of 3,481 new products since December 2010.

Mark Lofthouse, CEO of Mortgage Brain, said: “What a great way to head into the end of the year. Our longer term analysis clearly illustrates that the UK intermediary mortgage market has shown a real and significant improvement in terms of product choice and availability over the past 12 months.