A range of factors have led to the blip in a normally quiet month iincluding a dip in business through the world cup and a post-Budget bubble.
Dean Mason, an independent broker at Herts-based Masons Financial Planning said business in July was unusually buoyant.
He told Mortgage Introducer: “Business usually goes through the floor when school breaks up, but I haven’t seen that at all this year – it’s maybe making up for quiet period after the World Cup when I did see a bit of a dip.
“A reasonable number of people seem to be cutting down on the usual expensive overseas holiday and using at least part of their summer break to sort out the things they've been putting off, and this includes sorting their finances.”
Alan Lakey, senior partner at broker Highclere Financial Services, agrees with Mason, and says that business was noticeably better this July than is usual for the month.
He said: “It’s surprising because mortgage business normally dies off in July when people are away on holiday, but I’ve already had a remortgage for £350,000 this week and I’ve got another appointment lined up later this week.
“That’s compared to three to four years ago when I was doing eight or nine mortgages a month, which for a one man band specialising in protection isn’t too bad. Last year I was down to two maybe three mortgages a month but this July I did four or five."
And he added: “Business is more buoyant than usual for early summer, though I’m not sure I’d say I was confident about it – that’s not the right word, everything is cyclical. But I am slightly confident for the future.”
David Whittaker, managing director at buy-to-let broker Mortgages For Business, said he was delighted with the volume of applications he was seeing throughout July. He attributed the unexpected bounce to a “post-budget bubble working its way through the system”.
He said: “Though I’m delighted with the business volumes we’re seeing, this is a post-budget rush. A lot of people were really scared about what the budget would contain, and I think what we’re seeing now is all those people who sat on their finger tips now rushing things through.
“I think the uptick is noticeable because there were two months over May/ June where you would expect normal activity and it just went out from everyone’s feet. People were biding their time waiting to see what George Osborne would say.”
Despite the positive signs in July, Whittaker sounded a note of caution on business volumes expected through the rest of the year and said he thought business in August would be “flat as a pancake”.
He added: “I think it will be interesting to see when Michael Coogan, director general of the Council of Mortgage Lenders, will step up and say that lending will not hit their predicted £160 billion this year.
“I do believe there will be a massive undershoot this year and we’ll be lucky to get £125 billion or £130 billion gross lending.”
Lakey too said though he was pleased with how business was progressing currently, he remained concerned about the impact the Mortgage Market Review would have on lending via intermediaries, and expressed frustration at the increasing tendency of lenders choosing to deal with customers directly.
“The plain truth is, I’m having to work twice as hard for half the business nowadays,” he went on to say.
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