Mortgage searches surged in May despite the month including an additional public holiday, due to the coronation of King Charles III, says Twenty7tec.
The search engine sector reports that searches for home loans rose 7.9% last month from April, mortgage searches were up 11.1% and buy-to-let searches were up 7. .7% over the same period.
He adds that searches for brokers for first-time buyer products rose 7.7%, while May was the second-busiest month ever for self-employed mortgage searches.
May included three public holidays, instead of the usual two, due to the royal event.
However, in late May, the number of products on the platform fell 8.3% to 15,609, its biggest month-over-month decline since last fall.
The company adds that two-year fixed mortgages accounted for 42.76% of all searches for fixed products, up from just 22.37% a year ago.
While fixed mortgages of five to ten years now represent 24.13%, against 36.12% last May.
Twenty7tec Director Nathan Reilly said: “May was characterized by its strong performance despite its unusual count of three bank holidays.
“Some of the drop in activity we experienced in April has been recovered, but we expect a month of June without bank holidays and before the summer holidays to see activity increase even more.
“Although it will be interesting to see if this initial activity translates into applications after last week’s economic update and the impacts that has had on interest rates.
He adds: “The Bank of England’s rate decision will almost certainly mean that we will see an increase in mortgage searches just before and just after June 22.
“While the product count is largely down due to last week’s inflation update and lenders’ balance sheet, the market is still in a much better position than after the mini-budget, as availability remains broadly consistent across all areas.”
“The movement from fixed rate mortgages has definitely shifted towards two-year products which now represent the same market share as two years ago.
“It will be interesting to see if this theme continues. It seems that clients prefer a certain level of certainty rather than trying to predict the market and roll the dice on the long-term future of the base rate.