Weekly mortgage searches were at 87.33% of the year’s highest figure last week, having dropped by 0.5% from the week before, according to the latest analysis from Twenty7Tec.

The mortgage technology platform’s figures for the second week of the second national lockdown showed that weekly buy-to-let (BTL) mortgage search volumes were at 94.18% of the year’s high, which was an increase of 2.3% on the previous week – the only figure to register a rise.

Residential mortgage search volumes were at 85.94% of the year’s high, which Twenty7Tec revealed was down by 1.9% on the week before.

Twenty7Tec’s data also revealed its weekly mortgage ESIS documentation figures, which were at 88.97% of the year’s highest figure, a figure down 2.7% on the previous week.

Weekly BTL mortgage ESIS documentation figures were at 89.26% of the year’s highest figure, down 0.5% on the previous week, and the data also showed that weekly residential mortgage ESIS documentation figures were at 87.22% of the year’s highest figure, a figure down 3.2% on the week before.

“BTL had a definite slump in the run up to lockdown 2.0 and troughed on 4 November, the day this second lockdown began,” said Twenty7Tec CEO, James Tucker. “However, since that low, on a seven-day rolling average, we’ve seen quite a return of BTL search volumes and a smaller but definite recovery in BTL documents being prepared.
 
“Any drop in mortgage demand prior to lockdowns – and we have seen this each time regionally and nationally – is offset as soon as the actual lockdown begins. The demand doesn’t want to stay pent-up for too long.
 
“This week is traditionally very busy in the run up to the peak period that runs from beginning October to mid-December. This year, two factors have combined to make it even busier: the stamp duty holiday end date and the longer lead times to get a mortgage approved.

“We believe that these factors will sustain the levels of searches and ESIS documents for at least the next three weeks. It’s worth remembering that we are still at least 10% busier now for both residential and BTL than we were in our busy springtime.”

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