The drop was largely in part to the drop in application frauds however it remained the most abundant fraud type.
CIRFAS said that the lack of employment and concerns about future prospects may have put off fraudsters who would have committed application fraud.
Although the total number of application frauds identified in 2011 decreased compared with 2010, the number of cases where false employment details were provided almost doubled – up to 512 cases from 283 the year before.
Historically mortgage application frauds have always seen a high level of falsification documents, most commonly of payslips, in order to make it seem that the applicant earns more than is actually the case, CIFAS said.
Experian has also revealed that more than 90% of mortgage fraud was down to individuals misrepresenting personal information, such as their income, employment situation or credit history, attempting to obtain mortgages that would otherwise be beyond their reach.
Nick Mothershaw, director of identity and fraud services at Experian UK and Ireland, said: “CIFAS’s report is a timely reminder that fraud continues to be a significant threat to the UK’s financial institutions and their customers.
“Its findings echo Experian’s fraud data which has shown big increases in mortgage and current account fraud attempts over the last year.
“More than 90% of mortgage fraud tends to originate from genuine individuals misrepresenting their financial situations attempting to buy property that would ordinarily be out of reach.”
