"Following the fall in July mortgage figures and the usual trend of decreasing figures in August, it’s a welcome surprise to see a break in the typical slow summer period."
August 2016 saw buy-to-let figures jump 9.1% (£207m) and residential grow by 6.1% (£668m) on July. Comparatively, the market dropped by 13% in August 2015 and by 18% in August 2014.
However regional performance for the month was mixed; Northern Ireland stormed ahead with an increase in mortgage sales of 41.5%, while London showed sluggish growth of just 1.3%.
Iain Hill, Relationship Manager, at Equifax Touchstone, said: “Volatile market behaviour in recent months has left mortgage sales sensitive to external influences, including the usual end of summer slump and the Bank of England interest rate cut. Following the fall in July mortgage figures and the usual trend of decreasing figures in August, it’s a welcome surprise to see a break in the typical slow summer period.
“The uncertain nature of the market as it tries to navigate the Brexit environment makes this an exciting time to watch where sales will go next. With September already off to a strong start, we could see further growth in the rest of 2016.”
