Lenders continued to withdraw and reprice their products on a daily basis during October, according to Knowledge Bank, which suggested that the month has been a “merry-go-round of product and criteria changes”.

The criteria search expert said that many products were in “free-fall” as a result of political and financial instability.

During October, Knowledge Bank’s monthly criteria index showed that in the residential sector the most popular criteria searched for was the maximum age at the end of the mortgage term for the fifth month in a row, as borrowers were looking to stretch their payments over the longest period possible.

Broker searches for interest only deals moved up to fourth place for the month’s top five to displace the search for self-employed clients for the first time since June 2022.

Knowledge Bank also revealed that the buy-to-let sector had more criteria changes than any sector aside from residential and the headline change was the search for “holiday lets”, which broke into the top five most common searches for the first time in 2022.

In the secured loan sector, the data showed that four of the top five criteria searches were new in October, with the most common searches focused on stretching borrowing requirements, the maximum age at the end of the term, minimum income required and the maximum age at application.

Knowledge Bank also revealed that criteria searches in the bridging and commercial sectors, however, offered “some level of stability”, with the top five searches consistent with the month before.

“I think it’s fair to say that during August and September brokers endured the greatest period of mortgage market uncertainly for many years and the merry-go-round of criteria changes were something of a blur,” said Knowledge Bank CEO Nicola Firth.

“During the leadership election and the period surrounding Liz Truss’ rise and fall from power the mortgage market simply didn’t know what the future held. As a consequence we endured a huge amount of criteria changes as lenders tried to establish the credit worthiness and financial profile of future borrowers only to find their models destroyed as taxes and policies were changed and then changed again.

“Although lenders and brokers are able to act quickly and as the financial outlook becomes more stable the merry-go-round of product and criteria changes shows no signs of slowing down so there is tremendous pressure on brokers to stay on top of changes to help their clients jump on or off the housing ladder.”

Share Story: