Building Societies are beginning to introduce some cheap mortgage deals – but you’ll have to get up early to bag one.

The Newcastle B. S. and the Coventry have stolen a march on their competitors by launching some fantastic rates but there are signs that the Newcastle could their deals very soon and the Coventry withdrew theirs after just seven days,

The basic problem is that the building societies are unable to borrow in the money markets and all their mortgage lending have to be funded by investors savings and mortgage repayments from their clients. So if their deals turn out to be very popular, the money runs out in a flash.

And first time buyers still shouldn’t get too excited either. They may be the first to get out of bed and queue at the building society, but all these deals still require a deposit of at least 20% and a near perfect credit history.

The credit crunch remains with us.