Mortgage applications for purchase on the rise

June 20, 2009 by Brendan

News

For the first time since 2007, the number of mortgage applications was higher than the number of remortgages last month.

Recently, we reported that the figure for mortgage lending dropped in May by 2 per cent when compared to April, however this decline was due to a sharp decrease in the number of remortgage applications.

These figures were reported in the Monthly Mortgage Index from John Charcol mortgage advisors. The rise in number of house purchase mortgage applications meant that new mortgage applications accounted for over half the total mortgage applications in May compared to just an average of 25 per cent in 2008.

A spokesperson for John Charcol, Ray Boulger, commented:

“This suggests that as these enquiries translate into actual business, the proportion of purchases in our business written will continue to rise over the next few months. It seems that the market is continuing to show positive signs of recovery.”

Fixed rate mortgages continue to be the most popular as experts believe interest rates are as low as they will go and mortgages are likely to become more expensive over the remainder of this year. Remortgages however continue to fall due to tightened lending criteria.

There are certainly some positive signs for the mortgages market and those taking their CeMAP at the moment, but the market is likely to see some changes this year.