How is the mortgage market faring in Lockdown 2?

Twenty7Tec, a mortgage technology platform, has released the latest figures on the state of the mortgage market one week after Lockdown 2 began.

The findings, released on November 12, revealed the following…

Mortgage searches

Weekly mortgage search volumes rose to 87.79% of the year’s highest figure, up 6.8% on the previous week.

Search volumes for buy-to-let (BTL) mortgages were also up, reaching 92.09% – an 8% rise on the week before.

Meanwhile, weekly residential mortgage search volumes were at 87.57%, up 6.8% on the last week.

European Standardised Information Sheet (ESIS) documents

Mortgage ESIS documents figures were up on the week before, rising 7.5% to reach 91.42%.

Weekly BTL mortgage ESIS documentation figures were set at 89.75%, up 7.8% on the previous week.

Figures for residential mortgage ESIS documents rose 7.4% from the last week to 90.13%.

James Tucker, chief executive officer of Twenty7Tec, said the initial decline in mortgage searches and ESIS documents occurs as customers focus on dealing with the practical elements of a lockdown.

Then, as soon as lockdown starts, mortgage search volumes begin to rise again.

He commented: “We’ve seen it again and again this year on a UK-wide, home nation and regional level before and just after we enter lockdown. Any drop is then consistently mirrored by a spike of mortgage search volumes within a day or two of the lockdown beginning.”

“There was a definite blip in activity as people mentally prepared for Lockdown 2. For context, the drops were less than we’d expect in a bank holiday week. In Lockdown 2, we are still seeing search volumes higher than we did in pre-lockdown spring.”

He concluded: “Buy-to-let currently forms 19.11% of all searches in the past week and 20.87% of all documents prepared against in the past week. BTL search volumes have been relatively steady all year and those searches are converted into ESIS documents more often than residential searches.”