New data from conveyancing distributor conveybuddy suggests purchase activity continued to strengthen during the second quarter, despite concerns that the housing market is experiencing a broader slowdown.
Analysis of instruction volumes received by conveybuddy during the first 10 working days of April, May and June found that purchase-related instructions increased steadily throughout the quarter.
The firm reported that purchase and transactional instructions rose by 37% between April and June, with June volumes up 15% compared with May and 37% higher than April.
The figures contrast with recent commentary suggesting that housing market activity has weakened in the months following the spring rush of transactions.
While purchase activity increased, remortgage volumes remained below levels recorded earlier in the quarter. According to conveybuddy, this reflects a period of normalisation after a sharp rise in remortgage business during March, when brokers sought to secure deals for borrowers ahead of lender product withdrawals and pricing changes linked to the conflict involving Iran.
Remortgage instructions during the first 10 working days of May were 12% lower than in April. Activity recovered modestly in June, rising 6% compared with May, although volumes remained 7% below April levels.
The data also highlighted growing demand for surveys. Survey instructions increased by 12% in May compared with April and were up 33% in June compared with May. June survey volumes were 49% higher than those recorded in April.
conveybuddy said the figures indicate that purchase activity has remained relatively resilient, while remortgage business has settled following exceptionally strong activity earlier in the year.
The company plans to publish its full Q2 market data in early July, including total instruction volumes, broker usage trends and the most frequently recommended lenders.
Harpal Singh, chief executive of conveybuddy, said: “Over the last few weeks there has been a lot of commentary suggesting the purchase market is struggling, but that is not what we are seeing from our own instruction data coming through the conveybuddy platform.
“Our transactional activity has increased in each of the first 10 days of the last there months and June has been particularly strong. If anything, the figures suggest the purchase market is proving more resilient than many people might think.
“Part of this confusion appears to come from what is happening in the remortgage space where we saw a huge spike in mortgage business brought forward into March as brokers acted quickly for clients in response to lender pricing changes and product withdrawals. It was always likely that activity would settle down afterwards.
“When you compare what is happening today with those exceptional levels of remortgage activity, it can create the impression the wider market has slowed dramatically. However, purchases are continuing to move through the system and our data suggests activity remains healthy. The increase in survey instructions supports that view because surveys tend to be closely aligned with genuine purchase activity.
“That does not mean the market is flying, and there are clearly still affordability challenges and confidence issues in some areas, but there is an important difference between a market that is stabilising and a market that is falling away.
“We continue to see buyers entering the market, transactions progressing and advisers helping clients move home. The underlying drivers of housing activity have not disappeared and, from our perspective, the purchase market remains far more robust than some of the headlines would suggest.”
Launched in 2024, conveybuddy provides a technology-enabled panel management service covering sales, purchases, remortgages and survey cases.
