Hometrack expected its turnover to increase by 100 per cent this year and predicted that by 2008 AVMs would account for over 60 per cent of mortgage valuations, up from around 20 per cent currently and 10 per cent last year. With the advent of AVMs providing instant valuations, lenders were able to offer their customers an improved and more efficient service including instant mortgages at point of sale. Hometrack confirmed the view that at least six medium to large lenders will be offering an instant mortgage by early 2007.
David Catt, commercial director of Hometrack, commented:: “The AVM market has increased enormously over the past two years. Hometrack has been the pioneer of AVMs in the UK and remains at the forefront of this expanding market, with mortgage lenders representing over 70 per cent of the market using our AVM. Reflecting this, our dedicated AVM team has increased from 7 to 21 in the last 12 months. The expansion in this market is going to be phenomenal and on the back of our success within the lending community we are anticipating new players will enter this maturing market. As such we believe a milestone has been reached and welcome this competition in the belief that this can only be beneficial to the market as a whole.”
Despite the government’s recent change of mind on the introduction of mandatory Home Condition Reports (HCRs) within Home Information Packs (HIPs), the legislative process has lead to a greater awareness of AVM technologies. Therefore, regardless of the final decision on the introduction of HCRs, Hometrack believed the use of AVMs would continue to rise.
Catt continued: "The whole HIPs debate significantly raised the profile of AVMs. However, lenders had already recognised the importance of AVMs specifically for point of sale mortgage years ago, and this was irrespective of HCR introduction."
