Quarterly instruction activity up by a third

Compared to Q1, the total number of purchase instructions in Q2 were up 35%, while remortgage instructions improved by 29%. Total instructions were up by 33.5% over the same period.

These figures suggest a slight resurgence in remortgage activity in recent months, however Broker Conveyancing’s figures also show the purchase/remortgage split still remains heavily in favour of the former.

In Q2 purchase levels accounted for 67.5% of all business compared to 66.5% in the first three months of the year, while remortgage instructions as a percentage of total activity actually fell from 33.5% in Q1 to 32.5% in Q2.

Harpal Singh, Managing Director of Broker Conveyancing, commented:

“Despite some considerable improvement in remortgage instruction levels on the first quarter of the year, our ongoing experience is that purchases continue to be the main driver of the market and will continue to do so for some time. There are many reasons for this not least the stricter affordability criteria ushered in by the MMR with the result that a number of existing borrowers are unable to secure refinance, but also the fact that Base Rate remains at a historical low and until we begin to see movement here we are likely to see activity at these levels. While purchases have appeared to fall in number across the wider market space, our own instruction levels have actually increased and this is clearly down to the increased number of brokers who are taking control of the conveyancing process for their clients and using our system in order to instruct and earn.

“New users and registrations continue to grow and with the anticipation of market activity picking up throughout the rest of the year we expect to see a similar level of improvement in our instruction levels. In order to manage this we are working with both new and existing solicitor firms in order to ensure there is ongoing capacity to deal with increased activity and to ensure that service standards remain as high as possible. We anticipate making some further announcements regarding additions to our solicitor panel over the course of the year.”