"Rumours of a Bank of England base rate cut appear to have had little appreciable impact on the mortgage market, with a strong performance among several key buyer groups"
Overall, mortgage approvals dipped slightly in January following a bumper December, recording a 1.8% fall. However, small deposit borrowers increased their market share from 25.5% to 26.7%.
Yorkshire has consistently proved itself to be the best place for first-time buyers to get onto the ladder in 2019, and this continued into the new year. In the region, some 33.6% of all loans went to borrowers with smaller deposits, higher than any other region.
The closest challenger was the North West, where 30.9% of loans went to this group, and the Midlands, which recorded 29.8% during January.
Remortgage activity was also strong in January, with borrowers taking the opportunity to switch to a new lender and seal a low rate at the start of the year. This caused a spike in the proportion of loans being taken out by mid-market customers during the month.
Richard Sexton, director at e.surv, commented: “While the market fell slightly following the December bump, rumours of a Bank of England base rate cut appear to have had little appreciable impact on the mortgage market, with a strong performance among several key buyer groups in January.
“Existing homeowners benefited from low remortgage rates and were persuaded to switch to a new deal, while new buyers also swooped to seal low interest rates for their first purchase.
“The new Chancellor is due to present the government’s Spring Budget in March – the first opportunity for the Johnson government to lay out its spending plans.
“Homeowners, lenders, housebuilders, and anyone else with a stake in the UK housing market, will be watching with interest.”
