Analysis from the firm has revealed the number of UK lenders fell by 26% in the past year.

Bank of China, Sweden’s Handelsbanken and Israel’s Bank of Leumi are the latest foreign-owned lenders to launch in the UK market boosting the number of firms open for business.

However Realpricecomparison.com figures show a dramatic drop in lenders operating in the UK since July 2008, with just 71 firms offering variable mortgages now compared with 96 a year ago.

Familiar names which have closed to new variable business or disappeared entirely include Bank of Scotland, Egg, Giraffe, GMAC, Heritable and Darlington Building Society.

The situation for providers offering fixed mortgages is not as bad with 73 firms open to new business now compared with 76 a year ago when many lenders had stopped accepting customers.

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Francis Ghiloni, commercial director at Realpricecomparison, said it was encouraging that foreign banks believed there were opportunities in the UK market as the past year had seen a dramatic collapse in the number of lenders open for business.

“Bank of China and other foreign lenders cannot on their own revive the UK market but after a year of banks and building societies shutting down or being taken over it is a good sign that there are new entrants.”

He explained: “Increased competition and increased availability of mortgages is the key to the revival of the mortgage market. Nobody would want a return to the lax lending of the past but there is demand at sensible prices for lenders who want to lend.”