"Does this indicate a move into the mainstream for what has traditionally been a specialist employment group?"
There were 60,000 searchable criteria in June, an increase of 5,000 from May 2018, and for the second month running brokers searched on average 4.5 different criteria categories for each case.
June’s tracker now includes eight individual lending types.
Residential searches included self employed, maximum lending ages and maximum LTVs, whilst buy-to-let brokers searched for minimum income, first-time landlords and HMOs.
Popular second charge criteria included arrears or missed payments, CCJs and accountant's projection, whilst bridging covered maximum LTVs, properties purchased at auction, and below market value purchases.
The top three equity release enquiries were maximum LTVs and maximum age at application, as well as the leasehold remaining term.
The tracker also noted the top three searches for self-build (applications from property developers, accountant's projection and lending to limited companies), overseas lending for holiday homes, expats and consumer buy-to-lets, and commercial lending which focused on maximum LTVs and remortgages from a bridging loan.
Nicola Firth, CEO of Knowledge Bank, said: “These results do really show what’s happening ‘on the ground’ in terms of mortgage activity. The buy-to-let category for example shows that despite several years of negative conditions and decreasing tax incentives for private landlords the second most searched criteria by brokers is for first-time landlords. This shows that there is still an appetite out there for first-time landlords looking to invest and that the enquiries are still there, even if they are not being followed through with applications. This could, perhaps, show that some are being put off by the levy on the stamp duty and other taxation.
“Additionally, within the residential sector the top search was for lenders willing to accept self-employed applicants with just one year’s accounts. Does this indicate a move into the mainstream for what has traditionally been a specialist employment group?
“What is beyond doubt is that brokers are finding it increasingly challenging to find lenders who are willing to accept clients with ever more complex personal and financial circumstances. The fact that brokers are on average searching on 4.5 criteria categories for each case shows very clearly how complex individual mortgage cases have become and how much effort is needed to find a lender willing to consider a case with multiple parts.
“This leads onto a key frustration for brokers in that most criteria changes are not publicised if the lender considers the change to be anything other than positive and as a result they are often totally unaware of changes until they submit a case. As a result it’s becoming widely accepted that keeping up to date through lender websites and spreadsheets is simply impractical.”
