The number of searches for purchase mortgages fell by 7.9% year-on-year in January, "setting the tone for the year", Twenty7tec has said.

The firm’s latest mortgage searches report revealed that remortgage searches dropped by 22.2% in the same period, while buy-to-let (BTL) purchase mortgage searches were down by 14.1%.

Searches for two-year fixed mortgages in January accounted for 41.1% of all fixed product searches, compared to 49.5% in January 2024, while three to five-year fixed mortgages accounted for 35.7% of all fixed products searches, increasing from 31% in January 2024.

Despite the drop year-on-year, purchase mortgage searches jumped by 85.1% month-on-month in January.

Between December 2024 and January 2025, remortgage searches increased by 82.6%, while BTL purchase mortgage searches jumped by 61.9%.

Director at Twenty7tec, Nathan Reilly, said: "January was definitively busier than December - in some cases, mortgage search volumes nearly doubled compared to the prior month. Yet it fell short of the major highs that we saw in January 2024, which really set the tone for the year to come.

"December felt very quiet through a combination of the holidays and the pre-Christmas interest rate decision. So we had a sense that there was pent-up demand in the market, which was realised in January as purchase and remortgage searches rose 85.1% and 82.6%, respectively, month on month."

Twenty7tec also said there had been "significant growth in certain areas", such as mortgage submissions and affordability searches.

APPLY submissions increased by 17% year-on-year in January, despite a 16% decrease in mortgage illustrations in the same period.

Moreover, affordability usage and searches reached a new high in January 2025, with a 28% increase over the previous record.

Twenty7tec said this reinforces "the growing importance of affordability tools for financial advisers".

Reilly concluded: "The one area of the market where we might have expected a little more activity was in self-employed division. January marks the end of their tax year and, as their financial position becomes clearer, many of those who own or run their own businesses look to mortgage or remortgage. But this January was down 11.6% on volumes compared to January 2024.

"There was definitely a delay in the market getting going in January compared to 2024 when, first day back, we hit the ground running. That most likely means that there’s going to be more pent-up demand finding its way to market over coming days and that February will be off to a flier."

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