Mortgage sales rise by £3.4 billion in May

Mortgage sales for the UK increased by £3.4 billion in May, up 25.4% on the previous month, according to Equifax Touchstone analysis of the intermediary marketplace.

Buy-to-let figures jumped 26.1% (£0.55 billion) to £2.7 billion, with residential up 25.2% (£2.88 billion) to £14.3 billion. Overall, mortgage sales for the month grew to £17.0 billion. Every region across the UK witnessed growth in sales.  Northern Ireland experienced the largest increase of 36.3%, followed by the North East (30.1%) and London (28.7%).

Regional area	Total mortgage sales growth
Northern Ireland	36.3%
North East	30.1%
London	28.7%
Scotland	26.9%
North West	26.9%
South West	26.6%
North and Yorkshire	26.5%
Home Counties	25.1%
South Coast	23.7%
Midlands	21.8%
South East	21.4%
Wales	19.9%

 

John Driscoll, Director at Equifax Touchstone, said: “Following weak figures last month, prompted by government intervention to cool buy-to-let property sales and election uncertainty, mortgage sales have rebounded in quite spectacular fashion, hitting a monthly high for 2017 of £17 billion, with every single region experiencing notable growth. The outlook for the market however remains murky as issues such as political uncertainty linger; but we could see this sales boost continue into the summer months.”

The data from Equifax Touchstone, which covers the majority of the intermediated lending market, shows that the average value of a residential mortgage in May was £200,338 (2016: £194,005) and £155,473 for buy-to-let (2016: £160,729).