Average loan values for non-conforming mortgage business have continued to rise every month this year, and now on aggregate across all of the Advantage Home Loans panel lenders is measured at £108,606 in June.
The average loan value in January when the Index was commenced measured average loan values at £101,260. June was the first month when 100 per cent of the lenders indicated increased business levels across their businesses.
Through the course of the year to date the actual splits between purchase and remortgage business has moved slightly up to 45.3 per cent purchase and 54.7 per cent remortgage, but the biggest changes have been in the actual make-up of the business by types of mortgage within the non-conforming sector.
Confidence in self-certification mortgages having dropped heavily in January has risen steadily each month and are now up by 24 per cent to June.
Buy-to-let mortgages have shown small growth year to date up by 9.1 per cent in volume.
Right-to-buy mortgages are up 17.24 per cent and first-time buyers' mortgages have grown slowly by 7.2 per cent year to date.
Adverse credit mortgages have risen massively by 43.7 per cent and much has contributed to this: certainly the increase in near-prime applicants has been noted every month, and this is the result of increasing personal debt. The lenders have all been busy this year innovating products to cater for the increased demand as niches and opportunities have been identified.
Broker activity in the non-conforming sector which was slow in the early part of the year now seems to be much more buoyant and 80 per cent of the lenders report increased broker activity in June compared to 60 per cent in May. That said the lenders still indicate that they consider that brokers are not maximising the opportunities available to them.
Pete Bass, head of sales at Advantage Home Loans, commented: “Whilst we are aware of the business forecasts in the mortgage market in general, we are really encouraged by the way in which the non-conforming sector continues to prosper. By collating these figures on a monthly basis Advantage Home Loans is able to ensure that its product range is ready in advance to cater for predicted demand.”
