‘Covid-19 mortgage payment holidays’ was the most searched-for residential criteria in March, according to Knowledge Bank.

This was followed by ‘maximum age and end of term’ and ‘interest-only’.

The same payment holiday search term lies in the number two slot in the buy-to-let category, bested only by ‘lending to limited companies’.

Knowledge Bank believes this could be because it took a further two days after the initial government announcement on payment holidays for residential borrowers to clarify that landlords may take a payment holiday too.

‘First-time landlord’ was the third most popular BTL search term.

The most popular second charge mortgage search term was ‘maximum LTV’ and then ‘minimum loan amount’, while ‘early repayment charges’ and partial repayments’ topped equity release.

In bridging, brokers and their clients most wanted to know about ‘regulated bridging’ followed by ‘maximum LTV for bridging’ and in commercial, ‘semi-commercial properties’ and ‘maximum LTV’ were the most looked-for criteria.

In all, there were over 500 criteria changes over a 48-hour period this month, adds Knowledge Bank.

Knowledge Bank founder and chief executive Nicola Firth says: “The number of broker registrations and searches has increased exponentially over the past three weeks and a peek into those searches provides us with a fascinating insight.

“April will clearly be even more revealing as the broker searches could change more dramatically than anything we have seen to date.”