Purchase instructions have continued to increase throughout the quarter, showing a 37% rise, according to Conveybuddy’s analysis of instruction volumes across the first 10 working days of April, May and June.
This month’s figures are up 15% on May and show a 37% rise versus April.
Conveybuddy found that remortgage activity in June was below the levels seen in April, suggesting that the market is still adjusting after March’s spike in activity, when brokers rushed to secure deals in the volatile rate environment due to the war in Iran.
Remortgage instructions for the first 10 days of May were down 12% compared to April, but June has recovered slightly – up 6% on May but still 7% below April’s data.
The analysis identified continued growth in survey activity, with May’s instructions 12% higher than April’s. Instructions in June are 33% up on May and 49% on April.
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Conveybuddy said its findings indicate that purchase activity in the housing market displays continued resilience despite the ongoing economic and geopolitical uncertainty. It said the remortgage figures show that volumes have normalised following the turbulent period around March.
Harpal Singh (pictured), CEO of Conveybuddy, said: “Over the last few weeks, there has been a lot of commentary suggesting the purchase market is struggling, but that is not what we are seeing from our own instruction data coming through the Conveybuddy platform.
“Our transactional activity has increased in each of the first 10 days of the last [three] months and June has been particularly strong. If anything, the figures suggest the purchase market is proving more resilient than many people might think.
“Part of this confusion appears to come from what is happening in the remortgage space, where we saw a huge spike in mortgage business brought forward into March as brokers acted quickly for clients in response to lender pricing changes and product withdrawals. It was always likely that activity would settle down afterwards.”
Singh continued: “When you compare what is happening today with those exceptional levels of remortgage activity, it can create the impression the wider market has slowed dramatically. However, purchases are continuing to move through the system, and our data suggests activity remains healthy. The increase in survey instructions supports that view because surveys tend to be closely aligned with genuine purchase activity.
“That does not mean the market is flying, and there are clearly still affordability challenges and confidence issues in some areas, but there is an important difference between a market that is stabilising and a market that is falling away.
“We continue to see buyers entering the market, transactions progressing and advisers helping clients move home. The underlying drivers of housing activity have not disappeared and, from our perspective, the purchase market remains far more robust than some of the headlines would suggest.”
