October was the second busiest month for total mortgage searches in the past year, according to new data published by Twenty7Tec.

The only month in the past 12 months with more searches was March 2021, when the initial stamp duty deadline was due to expire.

The mortgage technology expert revealed that October also saw the six single busiest days for mortgage searches where one of the applicants was retired.

Purchase mortgage search volumes are now at their lowest proportion of the market since May 2020, while first-time buyer searches are at their lowest proportion since June 2020.

Twenty7Tec’s figures revealed that searches for mortgages products in the 95% LTV range have also dropped - now standing at half the volume at the time they were when the mortgage guarantee scheme was introduced.

The buy-to-let (BTL) space had its second busiest month of 2021, also after March, and Twenty7Tec also reported that nine of the 10 busiest days in 2021 for remortgaging ESIS documents were in October.

“The market is changing, and fast,” said Twenty7Tec founder, James Tucker. “We should be in the midst of a house purchase boom right now as we traditionally are in the 11 weeks prior to Christmas. Instead, the purchase market is not as firm as we’d expect, and remortgages appear to be the order of the day.

“With a drop off in first-time buyer activity and a lower proportion of searches coming in the 95% to 100% LTV range, we believe that the pre-Christmas mortgage market is slowing a little.

“BTL remains strong, with five of the eight busiest days this year all within October 2021. BTL is picking up the slack from first-time buyers.”

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