Analysis of product data by Mortgage Brain revealed a 43 per cent increase in product changes compared to the previous week, and a 35 per cent rise compared to the average amount of changes over the last three weeks.
Some lenders passed on the Bank of England’s base rate cut, which fell to 0.1 per cent, while others restricted or withdrew products above 60 per cent loan to value as banks became unable to carry out physical valuations and process cases with less staff due to the coronavirus.
Mortgage Brain also noted a 25 per cent reduction in the number of ESIS documents being produced from the sourcing system in the week ending 29 March, when compared to the average over the nine weeks to 15 March.
Mark Lofthouse, chief executive at Mortgage Brain, said there had been an unprecedented change in lenders’ product ranges.
“We are in changing times with everyone in the mortgage industry being affected by the impact of Covid 19,” he said.
“The ESIS volumes have shown a marked reduction and we’ll be monitoring this and other key performance indicators closely.”
