Buy-to-let sales down in July at Equifax Touchstone
New figures released today by Equifax Touchstone have revealed that sales of buy-to-let mortgages dropped sharply in July.
Transactions of these products fell by 15.2% (0.4bn) during July. Year-on-year, sales dropped by 39.1% (£1.5bn).
In terms of mortgage sales in general, there was a month-on-month fall of 15.7% (2.5bn) and a twelve-month drop of 16.6%.
What’s more, the average value of a buy-to-let mortgage also slipped year-on-year, from £160,203 to £157,195.
Falls
Residential mortgage sales also saw a drop, by 15.8% (£2.1bn) month-on-month and by 9.7% (1.2bn) annually.
By region, every area with the exception of the North West saw declines in double-digits. Equifax Touchstone’s data shows the area saw a drop of 7.6% in mortgage transactions during July.
The most-prominent falls were recorded in Northern Ireland and Scotland, with drops of 28.7% and 21.5% respectively. In London, there was a monthly fall of 13.5%.
Buy-to-let sales down in July at Equifax Touchstone
Tenterhooks
Iain Hill, Relationship Manager at Equifax Touchstone, observed that, ‘following Brexit, the UK housing market has been on tenterhooks, waiting to see how hard property buyers’ confidence has been hit. It’s important to remember that the summer period traditionally brings a dip in mortgage sale volumes during July and August, so it will be many months before the full effect of Brexit is uncovered.’[1]
‘We’re confident that the market will bounce-back longer term, with negativity likely to be offset by the recent interest rate cut, leading to lower and more competitive rates from lenders,’ he added.[1]
[1] http://www.propertyreporter.co.uk/finance/buy-to-let-sales-see-15-monthly-dr0p.html