The most popular searches that brokers carried out on behalf of clients in August continued to centre around ‘missed or late payments’, Knowledge Bank has found.

The firm’s criteria index has also found that the top search term was ‘maximum age at the end of term’, showing that affordability issues for mortgage holders continues to remain.

However, Knowledge Bank said that with the Bank of England base rate now on hold, the world of mortgages seems to have settled into a holding pattern with few changes across the residential sector, buy-to-let (BTL), bridging or commercial.

Other searches centred around a person’s employment situation, which is becoming of increasing relevance. ‘Time in current employment’ and ‘maximum age at end of term using employed income only’ featured as the third and fourth most searched items, with the need someone to be employed and in a stable job appearing to be a feature.

However, searches for self-employed borrowers hasn’t featured in the top five searches since June. Knowledge Bank said this is indicating that the self-employed are sitting tight as not remortgaging at this point in time or maybe taking product transfers when offered.

For those topping up their home loan with a second charge mortgage, the number of searches presented a theme of people maxing out. Three of the top four searches were ‘maximum LTV’, ‘maximum loan amount’ and ‘maximum age at end of term’, topping out, once again with ‘time in current employment’ the same as in the first charges searches.

Furthermore, BTL searches reflect the challenges for those providing homes for the people who cannot or choose not to buy their own homes. Arguably, Knowledge Bank said, the private rented sector has never been more important, but there appears to be evidence looking at becoming a landlord when they may not actually be able to get on the housing ladder themselves.

Three of the top five searches were ‘first-time landlord’, ‘no requirement to be a homeowner’ and ‘minimum income – interest only/part and part single applicant’. Knowledge Bank said that, despite reports of smaller landlords selling up and leaving the sector, there are others still very much wanting to fill the gap.

Chief executive officer at Knowledge Bank, Nicola Firth, said: “There are over half a million people still due to come to the end of their fixed rate mortgage before the end of the year. The hold put on interest rates this month may trigger confidence in people to find that next rate, but even though inflation has started to fall, there are many people really struggling with the cost of day-to-day living and the cost of their mortgage is a part of that.

“This is clearly reflected in the searches being carried out by their mortgage brokers and the fact that the second-most popular search is for people with missed or late payments just illustrates the challenges that many people are still facing.”

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