Purchase mortgage searches were down 7.4% in June 2024 compared to May 2024 but were down 1.25%% compared to June 2023, according to Twenty7tec’s June 2024 mortgage market activity.
Remortgage searches were down 7.27%% compared to May 2024 and considerably down (-24.36%) compared to June 2023. Buy To Let purchase mortgage searches were down 7.52% in June 2024 compared to May 2024 but were down only 2.32% compared to June 2023.
Residential purchase mortgage searches were down 6.97% in June 2024 compared to May 2024 but were up 0.37%% compared to June 2023.
What’s more, residential remortgage searches were down 5.90% in June 2024 compared to May 2024 but were down 23.64% compared to June 2023. Searches by First Time Buyers were down 10.42% in June 2024 compared to May 2024 and were down 9.75% compared to June 2023. Nathan Reilly, director at Twenty7tec, said:
“I think that there were some nerves ahead of the General Election, with mortgage search volumes down compared to prior months and also against the same month last year. Now that a new Government is in place it will be interesting to see how quickly things settle back down.
A particular change of note is the remortgage market where we are down 24.36% compared to the volumes in the same month last year. Finally, we saw a drop of 11.3% in searches for £1m+ valuation properties, often a bellwether of how busy the market is going to be in general.”
CEO of Octane Capital, Jonathan Samuels, also said that the growing level of mortgage product availability in recent months suggests that confidence is growing across the sector, with this confidence only likely to strengthen as an interest rate cut looms.
Octane Capital tracks the number of mortgage products available across the sector and how this level of availability differs by buyer segment. The latest figures show that during the second quarter of this year, mortgage product availability has climbed across the board, as the sector has continued to find its feet following a freeze on the base rate in September of last year.
First-time buyers have benefited from the greatest increase in choice, with a 7.7% increase in the number of mortgage products available between March and June of this year.
Current product availability also sits some 12% higher than it did at the end of last year (Dec 23), however, first-time buyer products still only account for 7.1% of all mortgage products available in the current market. Home movers (5.6%) and remortgagers (3.2%) have also benefited from a quarterly uplift in product availability, with both segments of the market also seeing substantially more choice versus the end of last year, with respective increases of 10.8% and 9%. Samuels, said:
“We’re yet to see interest rates fall despite inflation now seemingly under control, but given the prolonged period of economic uncertainty that has enveloped the nation and the Bank of England’s cautious approach in managing it, it’s no surprise that it’s been deemed too early to cut rates.
The good news is that since the base rate has been held at 5.25%, a greater degree of stability has returned to the mortgage sector and the wider property market.
As a result, lenders have been increasing the number of products available to all buyer segments and this greater level of choice not only benefits buyers, but demonstrates confidence in the market. With a rate cut on the horizon, it’s shaping up to be a far stronger year for the property sector and we’ve already seen signs of a return to form emerging since the start of the year.”
