Broker remortgage searches yesterday jumped by 38.8% to 40,902 enquires, compared to an average Thursday, says Twenty7tec. 

The data from the criteria search engine’s platform comes after the Bank of England raised the base rate by 50 basis points to 5% yesterday, its 13th rate rise in a row taking it to the highest level in 15 years.    

The firm adds that remortgage searches were 20.7% higher than any previous interest rate decision day over the past two years. 

It points out that it expects to update “hundreds and maybe even thousands of mortgage products” as lenders reprice loans as a result of the central bank’s rate hike. 

Around 1.6 million homeowners with a fixed-rate mortgage will see their deal come to an end by December 2024, according to UK Finance. 

However, the platform business says that purchase searches, at 32,458 enquires, were down 4.2% on an average Thursday, and down 7.6% compared to the average previous interest rate decision days in the past two years.  

This leaves purchase mortgage searches are now at their lowest levels since last October. 

The platform adds that searches for remortgages have outstripped demand for purchase deals for the past nine days, the first time that searches for remortgages have outnumbered purchases since the period around former Chancellor Kawsi Karteng’s mini-Budget in September. 

Other rate day broker search highlights include: 

• In total, there were 79,867 searches by advisers on the platform, up 16% on an average Thursday and 7.8% higher than the average previous interest rate decision days in the past two years 
• There were 14,050 buy-to-let searches by advisers on the platform, up 4.1% on an average Thursday, but down 5.7% compared to the average previous interest rate decision days in the past two years 
• BTL searches are now at their lowest proportion of all mortgage searches since August 2021 

Twenty7tec founder and chief executive James Tucker says: “Every day this week has been busier than the corresponding day last week.  

“That’s due, in part, to the fact that this interest rate rise appears to have been so broadly baked in that the market wasn’t just expecting it, but had been acting ahead of time to secure mortgages at lower rates. 

“Today is going to be a major day of activity for lenders and platforms like ours as we update hundreds and maybe even thousands of mortgage products to be at the latest rates.  

“So, we’d expect increased levels of activity to continue into today and through Monday at least. 

“Monday and Tuesday this week were two of the 12 busiest ever days for mortgage searches as people sought rates ahead of the announcement. 

“As of yesterday, there are 800 fewer mortgage products on our system than there were a week ago, which means more requests attempting to access fewer products and the kind of potential bottleneck we last saw in the stamp duty holiday period of 2021.” 

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