"The announcement by the government to recommence valuations and let estate agents reopen started to take effect in the second half of last week."
ESIS produced from Mortgage Brain’s mortgage sourcing systems have increased for three weeks in a row and are now 17.9% higher than their lowest point in the week ending 19th April. Last week saw an increase of 4.8% compared to the previous week. However, when compared to the average over the nine weeks to 15th March, the number of ESIS produced remains down by 37.4%.
The number of available mortgage products now stands at 8,203 which is 10.5% higher than its lowest point five weeks ago and 2.6% higher than last week. When compared to pre-pandemic levels, the number of mortgage products is 6,471 (44.1%) lower than the nine week average to 16th March.
Mark Lofthouse, CEO of Mortgage Brain, said: “The announcement by the government to recommence valuations and let estate agents reopen started to take effect in the second half of last week. At this stage it is difficult to tell if the increase in ESIS volumes is the start of the road to recovery or intermediaries progressing pre-pandemic cases. The increase is positive and importantly there has also been a noticeable increase in the home mover/purchase ESIS produced.
“The return by lenders to higher LTV mortgages is slowly increasing the number of products available and while it may be some time before we return to anything approaching previous levels, the changing circumstances of many people makes independent advice even more important.”
