"Although there has been a slight drop off in sales for June, these figures show how robust the mortgage market remains during a period of continued uncertainty."
Buy-to-let figures bucked the general trend, rising by 3.2% (£80 million) to £2.6 billion, while residential sales fell by 2.0% (£280 million) to £13.9 billion. Overall, mortgage sales for the month totalled £16.5 billion.
Most regions across the UK witnessed slight dips in sales apart from Northern Ireland and the South Coast where mortgage sales rose by 10.3% and 2.0% respectively. Wales saw the largest decrease in sales (-3.9%) followed by the Home Counties (-2.7%) and the North West (-2.6%).
John Driscoll, Director at Equifax Touchstone, said: “Although there has been a slight drop off in sales for June, these figures show how robust the mortgage market remains during a period of continued uncertainty. The ongoing low interest rate environment coupled with low levels of unemployment are keeping the market steady for the time being, limiting a more severe impact from political volatility.
“The long-term outlook for the market remains unclear as issues such as the weakened Conservative government play out; but there is cautious optimism that healthy sales figures will remain throughout the summer months.”
