More than 1.9 million mortgage searches were carried out by intermediaries during September, up 23% from August and 15% compared with the same month last year, data from Twenty7tec revealed.
Of these, 861,000 were for residential remortgage products, representing a rise of 40% compared to August and 44% year-on-year.
Residential purchase searches reached 617,709 in September, increasing 8% from August but just 1% year-on-year. First-time buyer searches rose 3% month-on-month to 138,791 but remained 4% below September last year.
Growth in remortgage conveyancing instructions also rose in September, outpacing sales and purchases.
Conveyancing distributor Conveybuddy recorded a 61% month-on-month increase in instructions for its All-Inclusive Remortgage product, a fixed-price legal service, during September compared to August, with activity returning to within 11% of the exceptional levels recorded in March.
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Overall, remortgage instructions increased by 19% during Q3 compared to Q2, while sale and purchase instructions increased by 8% over the same period.
Analysis by Moneyfacts revealed that the number of sub-5% fixed mortgage deals fell by 99%, from 1,494 since the start of September 2026 to nine by 5 October, as the biggest high street lenders made repeated fixed rate increases.
Meanwhile, average fixed mortgage rates have reached their highest levels in three years. Two-year fixed rates have risen to an average of 5.98%, the highest point since mid-December 2023, while the average five-year fixed rate has increased to 6%, its highest point since late September 2023.
Nathan Reilly, chief customer officer at Twenty7tec, said: “Remortgaging is doing a huge amount of the work. When we see growth on that scale, it tells us that existing homeowners reviewing their borrowing are becoming an increasingly important part of adviser workloads.”
