There was a more than 74% increase in the number of mortgage products on the market at the end of 2021 compared to the year previous, the latest Mortgage Market Report from Twenty7Tec reveals.

In other highlights of the report, last month was 12% busier for mortgage searches than December 2020, while 7 December was the only date in the month to rank in the top 50 for mortgage search volumes in the year.

Remortgaging accounted for 42.3% of the mortgage market in December, according to the report.

The number of first-time buyers as a percentage of all mortgage searches was the second lowest in 20 months in December, at 17.97%. November’s FTB figure was the lowest in the recorded period, at 17.6% of searches.

The number of searches for mortgage products at 95% LTV and above also fell, recording a lower level than in the week ending 19 April 2021 at 23,316.

However, there were 16,923 mortgage products on Twenty7Tec’s systems at the end of 2021, a jump of 74.6% from 31 December 2020 and December saw the highest daily average household income for mortgage searches of the year, at £69,349.

There were fewer searches for properties valued at £150,000 or less in December than at any time since April 2020.

Twenty7Tec founder James Tucker says: “We made it! 2021 was a year that we will talk about for many years to come in our industry. It had everything from the highest volumes we’ve ever seen to a sense that everything has changed, fundamentally and for good, in how we support customers in searching, applying for and ultimately obtaining a mortgage.

Congratulations on making it through such a tumultuous year – look out for our Future Demands report due early in January 2022!”