According to Twenty7tec’s report for January, there were around 843,545 purchase searches and 756,150 remortgage searches.
The report added that first-time buyer searches accounted for 17.5 per cent of searches.
Twenty7tec noted that January’s searches was 6.4 per cent up on September which was previously the best-ever month.
The firm said that January was the busiest month ever for remortgages but only the 13th busiest for purchase mortgage searches.
The report said that there was a spike in self-employed mortgage searches to over 25,000, and this was expected to continue into February as the self-assessment tax deadline has passed.
Twenty7tec added that ten of the top 20 busiest days for mortgage searches occurred in January, and three of the top 10 busiest days for first-time buyers were in the last two weeks of January.
Higher LTV products rise fastest
The report continued that, at the end of January, there were 14,988 products available, an increase of 11.4 per cent compared to the month before.
Total products at 60 per cent loan to value (LTV) rose by 11.8 per cent, and deals at 80 per cent LTV increased by 10.6 per cent.
Deals at 85 per cent LTV went up by 13.1 per cent and products at 90 per cent LTV increased by 14.6 per cent.
Nathan Reilly, director at Twenty7tec, said: “January 2023 was the start that every adviser would have wanted for 2023: busy and interesting. The Bank of England rate change will, we believe, keep advisers busy over the coming days. February tends to surpass January for performance, but given that this January was our busiest ever for total mortgage searches, it’s hard to predict.
“It will remain important that advisers continue to monitor rate and policy changes given the broader economic circumstances and the sustained regulatory push for best advice is more essential than ever.”
