The new 'big brother' mortgage regime may have only come into effect over the weekend but it has already caused a serious slump in valuations.
Connells' Survey and Valuation team says the total number of valuations it conducted fell nine per cent in March from February, showing total activity levels to be 10 per cent below that recorded in March last year.
"March is usually a strong month for valuations as the spring market heats up. But that just doesn't apply this year. Lenders have had to devote serious time and resources [to MMR]," explains John Bagshaw, Connells' corporate services director.
Valuations on behalf of existing home owners seeking to move saw a relatively small dip - down two per cent in March from February - but it was the valuations conducted on behalf of first time buyers that saw a serious slump of seven per cent over the month.
Remortgaging also fell sharply according to the firm. The number of valuations for remortgaging dropped a startling 22 per cent between February and March. So it accounted for 35 per cent of all valuations in February but just 23 per cent in March.
The buy to let sector was the only one to see more valuations in March than February, up two per cent; however, even this is smaller than the comparable time last year. Overall, buy to let activity for valuations remains seven per cent lower than at this time last year.
"After MMR remortgaging will have to be done in a very different way - applications will often need to be treated with almost as much scrutiny as fresh loans," warns Bagshaw.
· Estate Agent
· Connells
· MMR
· Mortgages Reported by Estate Agent Today 2 days ago.
Connells' Survey and Valuation team says the total number of valuations it conducted fell nine per cent in March from February, showing total activity levels to be 10 per cent below that recorded in March last year.
"March is usually a strong month for valuations as the spring market heats up. But that just doesn't apply this year. Lenders have had to devote serious time and resources [to MMR]," explains John Bagshaw, Connells' corporate services director.
Valuations on behalf of existing home owners seeking to move saw a relatively small dip - down two per cent in March from February - but it was the valuations conducted on behalf of first time buyers that saw a serious slump of seven per cent over the month.
Remortgaging also fell sharply according to the firm. The number of valuations for remortgaging dropped a startling 22 per cent between February and March. So it accounted for 35 per cent of all valuations in February but just 23 per cent in March.
The buy to let sector was the only one to see more valuations in March than February, up two per cent; however, even this is smaller than the comparable time last year. Overall, buy to let activity for valuations remains seven per cent lower than at this time last year.
"After MMR remortgaging will have to be done in a very different way - applications will often need to be treated with almost as much scrutiny as fresh loans," warns Bagshaw.
· Estate Agent
· Connells
· MMR
· Mortgages Reported by Estate Agent Today 2 days ago.