Mortgage Brain has witnessed a rise in product numbers and a marginal reduction in the number of ESIS produced from its mortgage sourcing systems.

Last week saw the number of available mortgage products increase for the second week in a row to 8,044 products, an increase of 488 (5.9%) from the previous week. The majority of the growth has been seen in the remortgage sector where the product numbers increased by 5.4%, while home mover products increased by 2.0% and buy-to-let product numbers reduced by 1.9%.

When compared to pre-pandemic levels, the number of mortgage products is 6,630 (45.2%) lower than the nine week average to 16 March. The increase is a result of lenders coming back to the market, increasing LTVs and relaxing some criteria.

Last week saw only a marginal reduction of just 0.5% in the number of ESIS produced from Mortgage Brain’s mortgage sourcing systems when compared to the previous week. The rate of reduction has continued to shrink for the fifth week in a row though last week’s small reduction suggests that we are at or very close to the low point, Mortgaeg Brain said. When compared to the average over the nine weeks to 15 March the reduction stands at 46.9%. (Note: the figures have been adjusted to take into account the Easter Bank Holiday).

Mark Lofthouse, CEO at Mortgage Brain, said: “The increase in product numbers for the last two weeks and stabilisation of ESIS volumes is cause for cautious optimism. The recent figures are encouraging and after taking into account any Easter effect we could be at the end of the dramatic week on week reductions, which is why we are now seeing stability and slow growth.”

“Stability and slow growth has enabled intermediaries and lenders to plan from a more solid base which in turn provides some certainty. Looking ahead there is pent up demand in the home moving sector and we’ll see indications of this being realised in the figures over the coming weeks and months,”