Mortgage Brain has reported another rise in the volume of ESIS produced by its sourcing systems to reach levels “very close” to those seen before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The mortgage technology expert stated that its ESIS numbers had now risen for six consecutive weeks, after rising by 18.4% last week on the preceding seven days.

The data indicated that volumes are now down by just 9.6% on the nine-week average to 16 March, having risen by 51.3% since the housing market formally reopened four weeks ago.

Mortgage Brain CEO, Mark Lofthouse, commented: “The turnaround in ESIS numbers is extraordinary. Few would have believed just five weeks ago that we would see volumes so close to those seen before the pandemic took hold.”
 
Elsewhere, Mortgage Brain reported the number of available products has continued its steady rise, after increasing by 4.4% last week to a total of 9,017. This figure is up by 21.4% on the post-pandemic low point of the week ending the 12 April, but remains 38.6% down on the nine-week average to 16 March.
 
The mortgage technology expert also revealed that the breakdown of residential lending between purchase and remortgage has returned to the same mix seen before the pandemic, as well as the LTV mix – with the exception of lending at above 90% LTV. Products with an LTV of 90% or more accounted for just 1.4% of ESIS produced last week, a figure that was down from 6.6% pre-pandemic.

Lofthouse continued: “The continued improvement in mortgage numbers is also encouraging, though the fact that lending above 90% LTV remains so starkly down on the levels we typically saw just a few months ago is a reminder that lenders remain cautious.
 
“We are still in early days of this recovery, so only time will tell how sustainable the increase in both product numbers and ESIS volumes are. But the fact that we have now seen sustained growth for a number of weeks provides good cause for optimism.”

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