The volume of standard residential mortgage searches in March 2021 grew 27 per cent on February’s figure, shows fresh data from Twenty7Tec.

The firm tallied 852,807 searches of this type in February and 1,080,779 in March.

Searches for shared equity and help to buy mortgages fared well as the weather warmed too, going from 34,475 searches to 44,104 within the same time frame – a jump of 28 per cent.

Overall, search volumes came to over 1.5 million, a monthly increase of 24 per cent and, according to Twenty7Tec, its best ever monthly search figures.

On the subject of changes in demand, group sales director Phil Bailey points out: “The market also moved further to purchase (as opposed to remortgage).

“Purchase now represents almost 70 per cent of the market – almost a mirror image of 12 months ago.”

Fixed-rate mortgages also enjoyed a resurgence in March of this year. Moving from just under 1.25 million searches in February to over 1.5 million last month means Twenty7Tec counted a 24 per cent rise in interest.

Broken down by property value, the largest gain in searches was “in the £500,000 to £999,000 range where there was a leap of almost one-third in mortgage searches,” says Bailey.

To be exact, Twenty7Tec’s figures show a leap from 151,975 to 200,118 over the month – 32 per cent more.

March also played host to the firm’s 24 busiest days of mortgage document creation ever – on the very busiest day it produced an ESIS document once every 4.9 seconds.

Twenty7Tec chief executive James Tucker says: “An extension of the UK stamp duty relief scheme, the promise of a guaranteed 95 per cent LTV market and increasing confidence in the market, in vaccines and in life beyond our homes have all combined to sustain growth in our market.

“Is there any respite on the horizon? It doesn’t look as if things will slow down for a few weeks yet, although the stamp duty relief ending on the £250,000 to £500,000 range will dampen demand a little.”