Twenty7tec has published its mortgage market statistics for March 2024.
Purchase mortgage searches were down 8.1% in March 2024 compared to February 2024 and were down 4.98% compared to March of last year. Similarly, remortgage searches were down 15.61% compared to February, but were up 3.75% compared to March 2023.
Meanwhile, buy-to-let mortgage searches were down 9.65% in March 2024 compared to February and were down 9.8% compared to 12 months ago.
Searches by first-time buyers were down 12.1% in March 2024 compared to February 2024 and were down 11.1% compared to March 2023.
Looking at fixed rate mortgage product searches, two-year fixed mortgages accounted for 51.51% of all fixed product searches (compared to 41.3% in March 2023). Three to five-year fixed mortgages accounted for 28.41% of all fixed product searches (compared to 34.06% in March 2023) and Five to 10-year fixed mortgages now account for 20.08% (compared to 24.68% in February 2023).
Nathan Reilly, director at Twenty7tec, said: “March 2024 saw a slowing of the market as the combination of an unusually early Easter and the Bank of England’s decision to maintain interest rates saw a nudge downwards in mortgage searches. The figures are, of course, high when viewed in the long-term but will feel slower to a market that has been running hot since Boxing Day 2023.
“One new record of note is that more mortgage products are available now than ever before. At month-end, total product availability stood 7.2% higher than the prior month, the first time we have seen over 21,000 products on the market. The previous record was set just a few days before the pandemic affected the UK market in March 2020.
“Finally, consumers have built in an expectation of change in rates as the majority of fixed mortgage searches are now for two years or less.”