Accord Mortgages is to extend its use of automated valuations (AVMs) in order to help cases progress quicker to offer.

The Yorkshire Building Society’s intermediary-only lender is increasing the maximum LTV it will allow AVMs to be used from tomorrow (1 December).

The maximum LTV will rise to 80% (was 75%) for remortgage applications, and to 75% LTV (was 65%) for purchases.

Applications from Northern Ireland will also have the option to use AVMs.

The changes apply to the lender’s new residential business on its mortgage sales and originations (MSO) platform.

Nicola Alvarez (pictured), senior manager for new propositions at Accord, said: “We want to make it easy for brokers to do business with us and deliver a great experience for their clients, and these changes will accelerate the process from application to offer for more cases.

“It also means our underwriters will need less time to review physical valuations, freeing them up to spend more time on complex cases which require a common sense approach. It’s a positive step forward for all.”