"This is traditionally a quieter time for the market, so it will be interesting to see if this momentum is maintained over the summer."
Numbers are now down by 39.6% on the nine-week average to 16th March, but are up by 19.3% on the lowest point seen during the crisis.
Despite this, Mortgage Brain has seen more ESIS generated through its sourcing systems in July than any other month so far in 2020.
Looking at ESIS volumes per working day, the figures for July were only slightly below the peak seen in February, though taken as a whole July has been the most productive month of the year to date. On a weekly basis, ESIS volumes grew marginally last week by 0.2%, leaving them 1.7% above those seen pre-pandemic. This is the second straight week in which ESIS volumes have been above those before Covid-19 reached the UK.
The increase in ESIS is being driven by strong demand from purchasers, with residential purchase ESIS having been around 10% higher than pre-pandemic levels for six consecutive weeks. It’s a similar story with buy-to-let, where purchase ESIS have been around 7% above the average volumes seen before Covid-19 for nine weeks in a row.
Despite low product numbers, lending at higher LTVs is holding steady, with ESIS volumes for cases at 80-85% LTV remaining at around 9% higher than pre-Covid levels for seven consecutive weeks. They now account for almost a quarter (22.5%) of all ESIS produced.
Mark Lofthouse, CEO at Mortgage Brain, commented: “It is little short of extraordinary that we have seen such a bumper July. ESIS volumes have been trending healthily upwards for some time, a clear demonstration of just how strong demand to buy is from both owner occupiers and property investors. This is traditionally a quieter time for the market, so it will be interesting to see if this momentum is maintained over the summer.
“Product numbers remain a concern however. While they have dropped by only modest amounts over the last four weeks, the fact is that brokers and their clients now have 4.4% fewer deals to choose from than a month ago, and almost 40% fewer than in the days before the pandemic.”
