The “maximum age of the borrower” at the end of the term was the most common criteria search by mortgage brokers in the residential sector in April, Knowledge Bank’s latest criteria tracker results have shown.

The criteria search specialist said this could suggest that borrowers are looking to extend mortgage payments over the longest possible term.

Knowledge Bank confirmed that the second most searched for criteria was for “income multiples that lenders use for affordability assessment”, a trend that could become more important as interest rates continue to rise.

The criteria tracker results also showed consistency in month-on-month searches in the buy-to-let sector, with “first-time landlords” still keen to enter the market, making it the most-searched term for the second month running.

Searches in the bridging and commercial lending categories remained consistent with the previous month’s, results with searches for “regulated bridging” and the “minimum loan amounts” the top two searches in bridging. Knowledge Bank also highlighted that in the commercial sector, brokers were searching for lenders prepared to lend on “semi-commercial properties”, and for those who allowed the highest LTV, as the top two searches.

Knowledge Bank operations director, Matthew Corker, commented: “With criteria changing every single day it’s too easy to put the cart before the horse and start refining product rates without establishing whether your borrower will be accepted by the lender in the first place.

“In a rising interest rate environment, we should expect affordability to become even more prominent in lenders’ minds as that relates to the borrower not the product. It is crucial that brokers check criteria prior to a product search to avoid wasted time in the application process.”  

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