Purchase activity outstripped remortgage instructions, with the total number of purchase instructions up 35%, compared to remortgages improving by 29%.
While remortgage activity has enjoyed a slight upswing in recent months, remortgage instructions as a percentage of total activity fell from 33.5% in Q1 to 32.5% in Q2. Purchase levels accounted for just over two thirds (67.5%) of all business compared to 66.5% in the first three months in the year, accounting for the vast majority of all conveyancing business at the firm.
Broker Conveyancing said the increase in its overall instruction levels was largely due to an ongoing rise in the number of new brokers using its portal, which have continued to run at over two a day for the past 15 months.
Harpal Singh, managing director of Broker Conveyancing (pictured), said: “Despite some considerable improvement in remortgage instruction levels on the first quarter of the year, our ongoing experience is that purchases continue to be the main driver of the market and will continue to do so for some time. There are many reasons for this not least the stricter affordability criteria ushered in by the MMR with the result that a number of existing borrowers are unable to secure refinance, but also the fact that Bank Base Rate remains at a historical low and until we begin to see movement here we are likely to see activity at these levels.
“While purchases have appeared to fall in number across the wider market space, our own instruction levels have actually increased and this is clearly down to the increased number of brokers who are taking control of the conveyancing process for their clients and using our system in order to instruct and earn.”
