The vast majority (95 per cent) of the nation's borrowers or potential borrowers will use the internet at some stage during their hunt for a mortgage, with one in five fully prepared to complete the whole process online.
Internet search engines are the most popular way of finding relevant mortgage sites, although advertising and recommendations are playing a far larger role these days.
Borrowers who already have a mortgage are more likely to use the internet for research and quotes, but are less likely to apply for an online mortgage than first-time buyers.
Applications
Regardless of their borrowing needs, all parties understand that the mortgage application process can be lengthy. Almost three out of every four respondents expect to spend an hour at their computer completing the process.
Of those intending to apply online, 70 per cent wanted to be able to monitor the progress of their application themselves, with 52 per cent valuing email updates.
Over half said that human contact was key, either in a local branch or through a call centre, rather than completing the whole process by themselves.
The two biggest deterrents were advertising pop-ups and security worries, interestingly with the former posing a greater concern to borrowers.
