According to Twenty7tec, first-time buyer searches were up 7.1 per cent compared to the same period last year.
The report added that purchase mortgage searches were down 4.5 per cent in February compared to the month prior, but were up 11.3 per cent compared to the same period last year.
It continued that remortgage searches increased by five per cent in February compared to January and were 38.9 per cent higher compared to last year.
Buy-to-let (BTL) searches rose 0.8 per cent in February compared to January and jumped 12.5 per cent compared to February 2023.
Regarding searches for fixed mortgage products in February, two-year fixed mortgages accounted for 48.72 per cent of all fixed product searches, up from 40.84 per cent in the same period last year.
Three- to five-year fixed mortgages made up 32.57 per cent of all fixed product searches, a fall from 34.06 per cent last year.
Five- to ten-year fixed mortgages consist of 18.71 per cent of all fixed product searches, a decrease from 25.1 per cent in February 2023.
Nathan Reilly, director at Twenty7tec – which recently brought Perenna onto its platform – said: “February was another remarkably busy month and would have surpassed the records set in January 2024 but for its fewer working days.
“Volumes were driven by the remortgage market in particular, perhaps seeking certainty ahead of this week’s Budget and the interest rate decision later this month. Unsurprisingly, in light of those two imminent public policy decisions, February 2024 also set the record for the busiest-ever month for fixed mortgage searches.”
He continued: “We saw a drop-off in first-time buyer activity to levels not seen since April 2020. Hopefully, activity levels will come back when the Bank of England (BoE) and Treasury have made their announcements.
“Lenders have been amending rates quite a lot this month, and we have also seen an increase of 2.4 per cent in total products available – very close to our all-time highs set in February 2020.”
