Figures show early lockdown effect on part of housing market

It’s far too early for authoritative figures on how devastating the Coronavirus lockdown has been on estate agents but there is some evidence from the mortgage sector.

FinTec company Twenty7Tec is issuing daily mortgage statistics.

This is what the picture looked like for Monday this week - when there were clear indicators of an upcoming lockdown, which formally went into place at around 8.30 that evening. 

- the volume of searches was down 15.46 per cent on the same day last week (and down 18.77 per cent on the same day a fortnight ago);

- the volume of documents prepared was down 5.4 per cent on the same day last week (down 13.33 per cent on a fortnight earlier);

- the total value of loans documented was down 3.4 per cent on the same day last week (down 14.14 per cent on the same day two weeks ago).

- the volume of searches to the seven days ending Monday was down 11.81 per cent.

Twenty7Tec chief executive James Tucker says: “In ‘normal’ weeks, we’d see a Monday spike in activity as weekend viewings turn into mortgage searches, but this has been flatter for the past couple of weeks, with the rest of the week then failing to make up the difference.

“Remortgaging levels are very consistent over the past week, with the dips in activity coming from the purchase side. That said, the purchase versus remortgaging split is currently hovering around long-term averages at 47:53.

“In a couple of days’ time, we’ll be able to see how much the three-month mortgage holiday has been able to shore up confidence in the mortgage market as we will be able to compare the whole week after the announcement with the week prior. The Chancellor’s announcement last Tuesday will have taken time to filter through the system, so it will be interesting to see how much difference it has made.”