April 2024 marked a robust month for the mortgage market, as unveiled by the latest statistics from Twenty7tec. Purchase mortgage searches surged by 8.1% compared to March 2024, and a substantial 25.87% compared to April 2023. Remortgage searches followed suit, climbing by 6.23% from the previous month and an impressive 48.03% year-on-year.
Buy To Let mortgages experienced a similar trajectory, with purchase mortgage searches rising by 7.93% month-on-month and 19.27% annually. Remortgage searches in this sector saw a 2.50% increase compared to March 2024, and a notable 26.48% surge compared to April 2023.
What’s more, residential mortgage searches, both for purchases and remortgages, also witnessed significant upticks. Residential purchase mortgage searches soared by 8.16% month-on-month and a robust 27.82% year-on-year. Similarly, remortgage searches in the residential sector saw a substantial 7.44% increase from March 2024 and an impressive 62.34% surge from April 2023.
First Time Buyers contributed to this heightened activity, with their searches increasing by 5.68% compared to the previous month and a notable 13.04% compared to April 2023.
Noteworthy trends were also observed in the types of mortgage products sought. Two-year fixed mortgages dominated the landscape, comprising 48.51% of all fixed product searches in April 2024, a notable increase from the previous year. However, the preference for longer-term fixed mortgages seemed to wane slightly, with five- to ten-year fixed mortgages now accounting for 17.40%, down from 24.08% in April 2023. 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 searches 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.”
Self-employed mortgage searches continued to surge, marking the fourth consecutive month of unprecedented demand. However, employed individuals dominated the scene, comprising over 90% of all mortgage searches for the first time since September 2020.
However, despite the market’s vibrancy, mortgage rates have seen a steady climb. The average 5-year fixed mortgage rate rose to 5.02%, up from 4.56% a year ago, while the 2-year fixed mortgage rate increased to 5.41%, up from 4.84% a year ago. Consequently, the average monthly mortgage payment for a typical first-time buyer property saw an uptick to £1,121 per month, compared to £1,065 per month a year ago.
While mortgage approvals continued to rise, standing at 61,300 in March according to the Bank of England, the mainstream housing market experienced a slowdown in annual house price growth, standing at just 0.6% in the 12 months to the end of April, according to the Nationwide.
Despite these fluctuations, levels of market activity remained resilient, standing 20% higher in April 2024 compared to a year prior, and 9% above their pre-pandemic norm for the month.
