The Mortgage Advice Bureau’s National Mortgage Index has shown an increase in the number of mortgage applications in the month of March, propelled by improvements in product affordability.[1]
The back end of 2014 saw a relative slowdown of the market; with a fall of 28% seen in December compared to the previous month. However, March saw an increase of 18% in the number of mortgage applications, with purchase applications up 16% and remortgage applications up 21%.
The report also showed that the average salary of applicants has decreased, however, as the average deposit has also decreased, the effect on the number of applications is the reverse of what would have been expected.
The typical primary income for a borrower in March had fallen 2.9% on February’s figure to £38,159, with the average deposit hitting a twelve month low of £68,887, down 3.2% on February. This coupled with the rising average loan-to-value, shows that mortgages are becoming more accessible to low income households.
