There is also some encouragement regarding broker activity (taken from the number of times mortgage sourcing is performed) with the number of sources increasing slightly in March but the first quarter taken as a whole shows a 40% increase compared with Q4 2008.
Mortgage Product Highlights:
• The average number of live products available to Mortgage Intermediaries rose from 2,983 in February to 3,725 in March – a rise of 742 individual products and an increase of 24.87%.
• The average figure is derived from a month (March) in which there was some significant activity as product numbers reached a high of 4601 and fell to a low of 2849.
• Year on year analysis shows that live mortgage product availability dropped from 23,037 in March 2008 to just 3,725 in March 2009. This equates to a reduction of 19,312 individual products.
Mortgage Sourcing Highlights:
• 802,707 mortgage sources were performed in March which is an increase in intermediary activity of just 1.45% when compared with February, a modest increase in broker activity in real terms of 11,452 individual mortgage searches.
• This is a massive 45% drop in broker activity from March 2008 and equates to 645,932 fewer individual mortgage searches performed.
Mortgage Pricing Highlights:
• The average monthly mortgage payment in March was £759.34 which is just £1.69 higher than the previous month but £154.30 cheaper than March 2008.
David Aylmer, marketing and business development director at Trigold commented on the results saying: “The increase in product numbers is very encouraging and although we’re still some way short of a return to the days where in excess of 60,000 products were available. February’s figures which showed product numbers dropping under the 3,000 mark for the first time was of some concern but these statistics show that the market has bounced straight back. Next months’ May Trigold Product Index will, for the first time, include direct products and so it will be interesting to see how this affects the number of searches performed and the average costs.”
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. Trigold is the preferred sourcing system for 7 out of 10 mortgage brokers using their sourcing, application and compliance system.
