Twenty7Tec has issued its findings based on its mortgage platform data for August 2022.

The main findings include:

• August 2022 was the third-busiest month of the year for total mortgage searches – activity was up 21.49% compared to August 2021
• August 2022 was the second busiest month ever for ESIS documents
• 4th August was the highest ever day for total ESIS documents produced
• August 4th was also our busiest day ever for remortgage searches
• For 8 of the 31 days last month, searches for remortgages outstripped searches for purchase mortgages.
• The 10 busiest days ever for green buy-to-let mortgages were all in August 2022
• August 2022 saw the lowest proportion of First Time Buyers in the market in 2022
• August 2022 saw an 11.52% drop in products available this month, down to the lowest product availability since 23 July 2021
• Products are now at 67.48% of the all-time market high (Feb 2020). But availability is still 74.9% above the minimum during the pandemic
• The drop in product availability is not equal:
  • Fixed mortgages are still at 85.83% of their all-time highest volumes
  • Stepped mortgages are at 56.9% of their all-time highest volumes
  • But all other formats (Discount, Tracker, Capped, Variable, and the LIBOR replacement Sonia) are all below 50% of their all-time highest volumes
• Retireds still form a small part of the mortgage search market (1.59% in August 2022), but activity is up over 50% on pre-pandemic figures.
• Likewise, self-employed searches are now 10.98% (Aug 2022) compared to 7.61% pre-pandemic (Feb 2020) – an uplift of 44.3%

James Tucker, founder and CEO of Twenty7Tec, said: “The front end of August was among the busiest of months we’ve ever seen. The latter half was definitely affected by the summer holidays and by the bank holiday weekend.

“Away from the headline figures, however, it’s a very nuanced market. Remortgages and buy-to-let activity were high, but First Time Buyer, Purchase and £1m+ property searches were all down.

“The major story of the month has to be product availability, including a 26% drop in products with max LTV of 60% – a key component of the buy-to-let market and a move that surely drove some of the extra search activity.

“Normally, we’d be expecting a back-to-school vibe this week, with the 14 weeks from the beginning of September to the run-up to Christmas being the busiest of the year. But if I have learned anything from the past couple of years, it’s that it’s easier to comment on what has come than what is to come. Either way, we’ll be here to support you in advising your customers on getting the best possible deal in a rapidly changing market.”