Mortgage activity shows renewed demand for residential conveyancing

Posted 09/03/2010

A new report has shown that more people sought the advice of residential conveyancing solicitors in February 2010 than was the case during the previous month.

Mortgage broker Countrywide found that there had been a 34 per cent increase in mortgage applications last month when compared with January, which could suggest that the housing market is picking up.

The organisation found that fixed rate products seemed to be the most in demand, with more than 50 per cent of the products requested being for this type of mortgage.

Meanwhile, the deposits potential buyers have saved up are also on the increase, with 22 per cent now the average in comparison with the 19 per cent loan-to-value ratio seen in January 2010.

Grenville Turner, a spokesperson for Countrywide, said: “We may be seeing a return of home movers entering the market as larger deposits typically come from [people] using the equity from their property to fund their move.”

Paragon Mortgages’ recent Financial Adviser Confidence Tracker Index forecast that there would be 7.1 per cent more applications for mortgages from January to March 2010 than there were from October to December 2009.