Twenty7tec records more than 1.9 million mortgage searches as remortgaging drives a sharp post-summer increase in adviser activity
Residential remortgage searches jumped 44% year on year in September as borrowers returned to the mortgage market following the quieter summer period, new data from Twenty7tec reveals.
The latest Mortgage Market Snapshot recorded 1,912,458 mortgage searches during September, up 23% from August and 15% compared with the same month last year. Residential activity increased 22% month on month and 19% year on year, but the most significant movement came from remortgaging.
Twenty7tec recorded 860,951 residential remortgage searches during September, an increase of 40% in a single month and 44% year on year. The surge comes as borrowers face renewed uncertainty over mortgage pricing. The Bank of England held the Bank Rate at 3.75% in September, but three members of the Monetary Policy Committee voted for an increase. The Bank also reported that quoted two-year fixed mortgage rates were around 95 basis points higher than before the recent energy shock.
Major lenders subsequently increased fixed mortgage pricing during September, with some rates rising by as much as 0.3 percentage points.
Nathan Reilly, Chief Customer Officer at Twenty7tec, said:
“Remortgaging is doing a huge amount of the work. Searches increased 40% in a month and are 44% higher than this time last year. When we see growth on that scale, it tells us that existing homeowners reviewing their borrowing are becoming an increasingly important part of adviser workloads.”
Bank of England figures published at the end of September provide further context to the changing market. The effective interest rate on newly drawn mortgages increased from 4.45% in July to 4.60% in August, while the rate on the outstanding stock of mortgages rose to 4.00%.
Previous market analysis has also suggested around 700,000 further households could need to refinance before the end of the year, following approximately one million borrowers whose fixed deals had already ended since February.
Purchase activity improves, but the recovery remains uneven
The picture for homebuyers was considerably more measured. Residential purchase searches reached 617,709 in September, increasing 8% from August but just 1% year on year. First-time buyer searches rose 3% month on month to 138,791 but remained 4% below September last year.
That contrast comes against a softer wider housing-market backdrop. The latest HMRC figures showed seasonally adjusted residential transactions were 2% lower year on year in August, while Bank of England data showed house purchase approvals falling to 54,900, their lowest level since 2023.
Buy-to-let also recorded a substantial month-on-month increase during September. Overall BTL searches rose 27% to 295,007, while BTL remortgage searches increased 34%.
However, the annual picture remained divided. Overall BTL activity was 4% lower than September last year and BTL purchase searches remained 21% down year on year. BTL remortgage searches, by comparison, were 4% higher.
The full September Mortgage Market Snapshot is available to download from Twenty7tec: https://www.twenty7tec.com/september-mortgage-market-snapshot/
