Purchase business remains strong, John Charcol has reported in its latest Mortgage Index.

The broker also said that longer term deals offer the best value.

Simon Collins, product and technical manager at John Charcol, claimed that it might be flying in the face of the doom and gloom reports, and predictions from many lenders and estate agents, but purchase business for both residential and buy-to-let property is holding up surprisingly well.

He said: “John Charcol’s November figures reveal that residential purchases were up slightly on October at 57% of business submitted. The figure was also up over 10% on the same month last year