The Trigold Product Index is the definitive guide to Mortgage Product Data in the UK intermediary mortgage market with the Trigold sourcing system displaying more products from more providers than any other system. An independent survey commissioned by Mortgage lenders has also confirmed Trigold as the most popular sourcing system for a fourth year running with an increasing number of mortgage advisors (70%) choosing Trigold for their sourcing, application and compliance needs.
Highlights:
· Average Product numbers for the month of October fell from 14,793 to 9,134 a fall of 38% which equates to a loss of 5,659 individual products.
· The average figure is derived from a month (October) in which product numbers reached a high of 11,601 and fell to a low of 5,810.
David Aylmer, marketing and business development director at Trigold said: “I’m afraid that the effects of the credit crunch continue to be felt by UK mortgage brokers with fewer products available from fewer product providers. You have to look all the way back to 2003 to see a corresponding level of products which was prior to the massive growth of the packaging and specialist lending market. The depth of the loss of products can also be seen if we look year on year. Compared with October 2007 when the number of live mortgage products available was 41,962 this October shows a drop of 22% from September and 32,828 fewer products than a year ago. I’d love to be able to put a positive spin on this but the numbers speak for themselves – it’s a tough market for advisors trying to place cases and we eagerly await the new lower rate products expected following the 1.5% base rate cut.”
Highlights:
· 547,070 mortgage sources were performed in October which is down 23% from September, a drop in activity in real terms of 160,997 individual mortgage searches.
· This is some 131,716 fewer searches than August 2008, indicating a fall in broker activity by some 19% over the past two months.
· In line with these recent falls, the longer term picture comparing October 2008 with October 2007 shows a drop in activity of 13%, or 82,743 individual searches.
· These figures still mean that every second* a UK broker is using Trigold to source a mortgage for a client. [* Based on working hours]
David Aylmer, marketing and business development director at Trigold comments: “The number of times a UK mortgage broker sources a mortgage for a client via Trigold is seen as a gauge of broker activity in the intermediary mortgage market. The drop in activity is probably to be expected but will not be welcome news to those who hoped that we were seeing some stability in terms of the market activity. Recent rate cuts may see an increase in activity, we will see next month.”
The latest index also reveals that although broker activity is down there is some good news for borrowers with the average monthly mortgage payment falling. The average monthly payment for customers as defined by the client requests on the Trigold system and currently stands at £916.77. This is a reduction of £2.55 from September and a significant £71.86 less than the average payment in August. The figure although coming down over recent months is still in excess of the figure this time last year when borrowers were paying £27 more.
