Mortgage market activity up 26% year-on-year: Twenty7tec

Purchase mortgage searches rose by 8.1% month-on-month in April and are 25.87% higher compared to April 2023, as the number of total products available on the market hit a new record high, according to data from the Twenty7tec platform.

Residential remortgage searches were up by 7.44% month-on-month and 62.34% annually, while first-time buyer searches rose by 5.68% on a monthly basis and 13.04% annually.

In the buy-to-let market, purchase searches rose by 7.93% monthly and 19.27% annually, while remortgage searches increased by 2.50% and 26.48% respectively.

Two-year fixed rates accounted for 48.51% of all fixed product searches in April, while three to five-year fixes made up 34.09% of searches and five-year+ products 17.40%.

Nathan Reilly, director at Twenty7tec, said: “April 2024 was our third busiest ever month on the platform with over two million mortgage searches in total. The month also saw a new record set for the total products available - with over 21,000 product variations now in the UK mortgage market, a 3.82% rise on the prior month end.

“We’re seeing a significant level of ESIS documents being produced for purchase mortgages, which is always a good sign.

“April 2024 saw an unprecedented fourth month on the trot with over 100,000 self-employed mortgage searches. However, their demand was outstripped by the employed who made up over 90% of all mortgage seaches for the first time since September 2020 (retired and self employed made up 9.33% in April 2024).

“Finally, we saw the average property valuation for a first-time buyer in London break through the £500k mark again for the first time in a year.”