Purchase mortgage searches surged by 120.1% in January 2024 compared with December 2023, and grew by 13% compared to January 2023, according to the latest mortgage market statistics from Twenty7tec.
Remortgage searches were up 93.9% compared to December 2023 and were up 26.8% compared to January 2023.
On a monthly basis, buy-to-let (BTL) searches were up 96.5% nationwide, and searches by first-time buyers were up 125.9%.
2-year fixed mortgages accounted for 49.51% of all fixed product searches, compared to 40.7% in January 2023, while 3-year to 5-year fixed mortgages accounted for 31.04%.
In addition, 5-year to 10-year fixed mortgages accounted for 19.45%.
Nathan Reilly, director at Twenty7tec, said: “January 2024 saw us move into new territory: our first-ever month with over two million mortgage searches on our platform.
“It was consistent growth across the board with purchase, remortgages and buy-to-let all doubling compared to the prior month.
“It was officially our busiest month ever and we saw 12 of our 20 busiest ever days for mortgage searches in January 2024.”
He continued: “The total searches for purchase mortgages were the second busiest ever, behind a stamp-duty-holiday-driven set of figures in March 2021.
“In real terms, it was also the busiest-ever month for first-time buyers, but they lagged as a group as a proportion of all searches.
“We also saw the lowest level of 90%+ mortgage searches for a year. But, as I say, in real terms, searches by first-time buyers were considerably up including doubling in London compared to December 2023.
“Total product availability remains stable, but we had our busiest-ever month for adjustments to products last year. We’re now at 95.04% of the product availability peaks we last saw in March 2020.
“Finally, sole traders drove a lot of activity as their tax year ended on 31st January 2024. Six of the ten busiest days ever for self-employed took place in January 2024, and overall, it was our busiest ever for the self-employed too.”
