Remortgaging accounted for 38.8% of the mortgage market in September, according to the latest Mortgage Market Report from Twenty7Tec.

Eight of the busiest days for remortgaging in 2021 took place in September, the tracker found, while it was the lowest ranking month this year for first-time buyer searches. FTBs accounted for 18.8% of searches in September, down from 19.51% in August. This is despite the finding that there were more high LTV products on the market in September than in August.

Products at 85% LTV accounted for 15.43% of the market in September compared to 15.31% in August; 90% LTV was up from 10.60% of the products available in August to 10.98% in September; and 4.36% of products in August were at 95% LTV compared to 4.50% in September.

For overall mortgage searches, September was the third busiest month in 2021, with 773,339 searches, compared to 739,736 in August.

Twenty7Tec director of intermediary relationships Niki Cooke says: “September is traditionally the beginning of the busiest 10 weeks of the mortgage market’s year. This year, however, it only ranks as the third busiest month for searches due to the volumes in March and April seeking to hit stamp duty headlines. “The end of the month saw the end of the lower stamp duty relief (up to £250k) so we are now operating in the ‘new normal’ market.”

Twenty7Tec chief executive James Tucker says: “Life after the stamp duty relief starts here. This is the new normal: a legacy 95% guarantee scheme, but much else has returned to pre-pandemic market set up.

“The story of the month from September was that Buy To Let is back and Remortgaging is also heading toward its long-term norm (40:60 of remo:purchase). Perhaps October will see the usual pre-Christmas rush.”