Monthly mortgage search volumes crept back up in July after June’s major drops (up 8.7%), but the availability of mortgage products has continued to fall, Twenty7Tec’s mortgage market report for July shows.
Product availability is now at the lowest level since the end of September 2021 and currently stands at 76.27% of pre-pandemic highs.
Fixed mortgage searches remain at 85.83% of all-time highs, whereas Stepped (56.87%), Discount (45.87%), Tracker 46.62%), Capped (44.67%), Variable (44.56%), and Libor (44.29%) are all performing well below their all-time highs.
Searches for green mortgages continue to climb – seven out of the top ten busiest days ever for green mortgage searches were in July 2022
While combined salaries are rising for homebuyers – Twenty7Tec saw its third highest ever daily average on July 20th at £69,801.
James Tucker, CEO of Twenty7tec, said: “So far this year, we’ve seen 10.5m mortgage searches on the platform.
“That’s a month quicker than we hit the ten million search milestone in 2021. We’re predicting that 2022 will surpass 2020’s total mortgage search volumes by the middle of September. Bearing in mind how busy 2020 was, that’s quite an achievement.
“So far this year, we’ve processed one mortgage search every 1.8 seconds.
“Product availability is probably one of the key metrics this month. We’re now operating at around three quarters of the pre pandemic highs – down for the fourth month on the trot.
“We’ve also seen a much greater concentration towards fixed mortgages which are currently performing at around 85% of their all time highs. Stepped mortgages are at 56% of their all time highs.
“But the availability of Discount, Tracker, Capped, Variable and Libor mortgages are all below 50% of their record highs. Both buyers and lenders are seeking greater certainty and the profile of products available reflects that.
“From end June to end July 2022 we saw the largest monthly drop in real terms (and in percentage terms) of mortgage products available since the pandemic-induced handbrake stop in March 2020 which saw the removal of around 3,000 products almost overnight.”
