June has witnessed a notable surge in mortgage advisor lending, the strongest recorded since the financial crisis of 2007. Recent analysis of the intermediary market undertaken by Equifax Touchstone revealed total lending rose 26.5% annually, reaching a staggering £16.4 billion. Buy-to-let lending led the charge, with an increase of 37.9% to £3.8 billion, with residential mortgages climbing 23.5% on June last year to £12.6 billion.
The data covers approximately 92% of the mortgage advisory sector and indicates the standard valuation of a residential mortgage in June stood at £185,551, compared to £175,278 during the same month last year. To date residential sales have increased by 9.8% on the 2014 figure, with buy-to-let up by 25.3%.
June’s record post financial crisis sales figures can be attributed to several factors; for example, the end of a recent election process with a new government firmly in place. This has undoubtedly helped spur things forward. With interest rates predicted to remain low for the immediate future and competition amongst lenders set to continue during the second half of the year, the outlook for the advisory market looks positive.
Underwriting criteria and affordability measures (following the Mortgage Market Review) still pose a barrier to many looking to get onto the property ladder. However, as the competition moves from reducing rates and begins to focus on relaxing criteria and making sensible underwriting decisions, this measure should improve things further and see this current trend continue.