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.”
Latest News
Perenna and the long-term fixed mortgage market
Content editor, Dan McGrath, spoke to head of product, proposition and distribution at Perenna, John Davison, to explore the long-term fixed mortgage market, the role that Perenna plays in this sector and the impact of the recent Autumn Budget
The role of the bridging market and technology usage in the industry
Content editor, Dan McGrath, sat down with chief operating officer at Black & White Bridging, Damien Druce, and head of development finance at Empire Global Finance, Pete Williams, to explore the role of the bridging sector, the role of AI across the industry and how the property market has fared in the Labour Government’s first year in office.
NEW BUILD IN FOCUS - NEW EPISODE OF THE MORTGAGE INSIDER PODCAST, OUT NOW
Figures from the National House-Building Council saw Q1 2025 register a 36% increase in new homes built across the UK compared with the same period last year, representing a striking development for the first-time buyer market. But with the higher cost of building, ongoing planning challenges and new and changing regulations, how sustainable is this growth? And what does it mean for brokers?
Does the North-South divide still exist in the UK housing market?
What do the most expensive parts of the country reveal about shifting demand? And why is the Manchester housing market now outperforming many southern counterparts?
In this episode of the Barclays Mortgage Insider Podcast, host Phil Spencer is joined by Lucian Cook, Head of Research at Savills, and Ross Jones, founder of Home Financial and Evolve Commercial Finance, to explore how regional trends are redefining the UK housing, mortgage and buy-to-let markets.
In this episode of the Barclays Mortgage Insider Podcast, host Phil Spencer is joined by Lucian Cook, Head of Research at Savills, and Ross Jones, founder of Home Financial and Evolve Commercial Finance, to explore how regional trends are redefining the UK housing, mortgage and buy-to-let markets.
© 2019 Perspective Publishing Privacy & Cookies
Recent Stories