November delivered a mix of cooling overall search volumes but surging criteria activity across the Knowledge Bank platform, its latest figures show.
With the Autumn Budget landing mid-month and lenders making widespread adjustments, search volumes dropped but criteria changes reached an annual high.
Total searches on the platform in November totalled 78,815, a meaningful drop from 91,000+ in October. While demand softened, lender activity moved sharply in the opposite direction.
There were 11,191 new criteria additions, which is the highest monthly total of the year, with 4,332 criteria updated.
Residential searches showed notable movement, beginning with the continued dominance of core affordability criteria. 'Max age at end of term' remained the most searched item, with 'Joint borrower, sole proprietor' holding on to second place.
A major mover this month was “Defaults registered in the last three years”, which jumped into third place. Against the backdrop of ongoing cost of living aftershocks, this suggests brokers are increasingly supporting clients with recent credit events. Knowledge Bank says previous drop in searches for this criteria could have been masked by an increase in clients taking on product transfers direct with lenders.
Two other significant climbers were first-time buyers, which saw a rise from 46th to 31st, and CIS workers who continued their long upward trend, moving from 52nd to 43rd, showing ongoing demand from non-traditional employment groups.
In the buy-to-let sector, first-time buyers returned to number one. Lending to limited companies, October’s top search, fell to sixth, likely influenced by Budget-driven uncertainty.
'No requirement to be a homeowner' remained second and consumer buy-to-let climbed strongly into third.
Overall, the research shows that November was a month defined less by borrower behaviour and more by lender recalibration. Searches dipped, but criteria changes surged to their highest level of the year a clear marker of shifting risk appetites, post-Budget repositioning and perhaps a little prep for what 2026 may look like.
Knowledge Bank also noted the "unusual timing" of the seasonal slowdown. Traditionally, brokers see activity ease in December, but this year the quieter period appears to have begun in November.
With brokers reporting an early start to the winter slowdown, attention now turns to whether December sees a continuation of softer activity, and crucially, whether 2026 begins with the kind of strong demand surge that has followed previous periods of suppressed market movement.
Shane Chawatama, sales director at Knowledge Bank, said: “We would normally expect December to be the month where activity naturally softens, but this year we’re hearing from brokers that the slowdown has arrived early. November felt quieter than usual, and the big question now is how this will impact advisers as we move into the final weeks of the year. The upside, however, is the potential for a strong rebound, if activity has been pushed back rather than lost, we could be looking at a bumper start to 2026 with a release of pent-up demand.”
