February mortgage market: First-time buyer levels drop to worst since April 2020

Twenty7tec has published its latest mortgage market report for February 2024, showing first-time buyer levels drop to worst since April 2020.

Twenty7tec, the leading adviser tech provider, has announced mortgage market statistics for February 2024 as follows:
    • Purchase mortgage searches were down 4.5% in February 2024 compared to January 2024 and were up 11.3% compared to February 2023
    • Remortgage searches were up 5.0% compared to January 2024 and were up 38.9% compared with February 2023
    • Buy-To-Let mortgage searches were up 0.8% in February 2024 compared to January 2024 and were up 12.5% compared to February 2023
    • Searches by First Time Buyers were down 9.5% in February 2024 compared to January 2024 but were up 7.1% compared to February 2023
    • Searches for fixed mortgage products in February 2024:
      • Two-year fixed mortgages accounted for 48.72% of all fixed product searches (compared to 40.84% in February 2023)
      • Three- to five-year fixed mortgages accounted for 32.57% of all fixed product searches (compared to 34.06% in February 2023)
      • Five- to ten-year fixed mortgages now account for 18.71% (compared to 25.10% in February 2023)
Nathan Reilly, director at Twenty7tec, says:

“February was another remarkably busy month and would have surpassed the records set in January 2024 but for its fewer working days.

“Volumes were driven by the remortgage market in particular, perhaps seeking certainty ahead of this week’s Budget and the interest rate decision later this month?

“Unsurprisingly, in light of those two imminent public policy decisions, February 2024 also set the record for the busiest-ever month for fixed mortgage searches.

“We saw a drop off in First Time Buyer activity to levels not seen since April 2020.

“Hopefully activity levels will come back when the Bank of England and Treasury have made their announcements.

“Lenders have been amending rates quite a lot this month and we have also seen an increase of 2.4% in total products available – very close to our all-time highs set in February 2020.”

 

Kindly shared by Twenty7tec