Mortgage technology expert, Twenty7Tec, has recorded a drop in mortgage market activity for the first week of the year.

Twenty7Tec recorded the total number of mortgage searches in the first week of the year and compared the figure to the previous year’s busiest week.

The data showed that this figure sat at 73.58% after the first week of 2019 and 76.68% in 2020, but revealed that the number of searches dropped to 67.43% this year.

Similarly, the mortgage technology expert’s data also recorded the first week’s ESIS documents as a percentage of the prior year’s maximum weekly ESIS documents. The data revealed that this figure sat at 72.64% after the first week of 2019 and 67.57% after the first week of 2020, but had also dropped in the first week of this year, to 59.87%.

However, Twenty7Tec suggested that despite its market trading data indicating less activity in the first week of the year than previously shown, an immediate surge in mortgage activity could be expected as a result of the latest national lockdown.

Twenty7Tec sales director, Phil Bailey, commented: “We ran the stats of 1 January to 7 January for each of the past six years and expressed them as a percentage of the year’s highest weekly figures.

“In most other years, the total number of mortgage searches in the first week of the year is around 75% of the previous year’s busiest week. However, last week, this this figure dropped to be 67.43% of the prior year’s high.

“In terms of weekly ESIS documentation as a percentage of the prior year’s busiest week, last week was the slowest first week of the year since 2018, with less than 60% of the prior year’s busiest activity.

“It’s fair to say that you can’t tell too much from a single week, but I believe that the industry is looking for a bellwether to tell us how the market is likely to perform this year in light of the quadruple whammy of Brexit, stamp duty changes, COVID, and the state of the broader economy.

“Our previous analysis throughout 2020 showed an immediate surge in mortgage activity, post any regional or national lockdown. If the trend continues through 2021, we should expect a significant bounce as the promises of a post-vaccine world and subsequent stability returns.”

Share Story: