Mortgage applications up

Posted: 16 Jul 2007 10:45:40 GMT

The recent interest rate rise seems to have had little impact on home buyers, with mortgage applications reportedly up in June.

The recent interest rate rise seems to have had little impact on home buyers, with mortgage applications reportedly up in June.

Figures from Andrews estate agency show that June 2007 saw mortgage applications rise by 12 per cent year-on-year.

Since June 2006, the base rate has risen by 1.25 per cent and this would be expected to dampen interest in the housing market.

However, June is usually a strong month and Andrews says that most applicants are opting for fixed-rate deals to avoid future rises.

"June is traditionally our strongest month of the year for mortgage submissions and this month has proven to be no exception to this rule," commented Chris Chapman, director of the firm.

"A further [base rate] increase had been predicted for some weeks and the majority of lenders had priced this in to the fixed rates on offer for the latter part of June.

"So whilst the numbers of our clients opting for fixed rate products in 2007 has remained constant at 87 per cent, during June we saw this number rise slightly to 89.5 per cent," he added.

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