The number of mortgage searches by brokers soared by 23 per cent to 1,247,653 in February compared to a year ago, the latest figures from Twenty7Tec have shown.

Searches for purchase loans increased by 2.6 per cent month on month and by 39 per cent year on year to reach 815,232 in February.

This followed a monthly increase of 7.4 per cent in the month to January and a drop of 44.6 per cent in December, when there were only 507,039 searches for purchase mortgages.

Searches for remortgages rose by 3.9 per cent to 432,431 in February, which was 1.4 per cent higher than the same month last year.

The monthly increase in remortgage searches followed a 7.6 per cent rise in January and a drop of 42.1 per cent in December, when the figure was just 253,857.

Buy-to-let searches increased by nearly 7 per cent in February compared to the previous month, reaching 227,465.

The share of searches relating to first-time buyers has remained fairly steady at around 20 per cent over recent months.

The ratio of purchase to remortgage searches has also been relatively consistent over the past three months at 65:35.

Twenty7Tec documented £43.7bn of loan searches, which based on previous trends suggests that £13.9bn of gross mortgage lending will be carried in February 2021.

Chief executive James Tucker says: “Despite coming hot on the heels of an outstanding January and yet subject to the chancellor’s Budget in March 2021, February surpassed expectations.                 

“Volumes were up across the board for both searches and documents prepared. 

“Equally, the ratio of purchase to remortgage appears settled. 

“The ratio of first time buyer searches also appears settled at around 20 per cent.”