Bank of England rate cut helps drive mortgage sales recovery

Rate cut helped the industry navigate the traditional summer slowdown.

August mortgage sales saw a month-on-month increase of 6.6%, according to analysis of the intermediary marketplace by Equifax Touchstone.

The Bank of England interest rate cut last month helped the industry navigate the traditional summer slowdown, the financial intelligence business says.

August 2016 saw buy-to-let figures jump 9.1% (£207m) and residential transactions grow by 6.1% (£668m) on July. Over the same period the market dropped by 13% in August 2015 and by 18% in August 2014.

Iain Hill, relationship manager at Equifax Touchstone, said: “The uncertain nature of the market as it tries to navigate the Brexit environment makes this an exciting time to watch where sales will go next. With September already off to a strong start, we could see further growth in the rest of 2016.”

Regional performance for the month was mixed; Northern Ireland stormed ahead with an increase in mortgage sales of 41.5%, while London showed sluggish growth of just 1.3%.

The data from Equifax Touchstone, which covers 92% of the intermediated lending market, shows that the average value of a residential mortgage in August was £187,162 (2015: £183,953) and £154,795 for buy-to-let (2015: £159,362).

Equifax Touchstone provides financial intelligence to the life, pension, investment, platform and mortgage industries.