The company has increased its market share despite the valuations sector seeing a sharp decline in activity due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis.

This is due to social distancing which has caused a sharp increase in lenders adopting AVM technology to inform mortgage lending decisions.

Hometrack has also released new data about the recent state of the UK mortgage market. The data shows:

• Mortgage applications for April were down by 40% compared to March
• Purchase applications fell 75% month-on-month and remortgage applications fell 25%
• The proportion of mortgage applications with higher loan-to-value (LTV) has fallen. Prior to the lockdown period, over 25% of mortgage applications were for products with LTVs at or above 85%, compared to less than 6% in April.  This is due to both the reduction in purchase application activity, which tend to be at higher LTV, as well as a more restricted product range.

David Ross, managing director of Hometrack, commented: “In this challenging climate lenders are turning to automated valuation and desktop services so they can serve their customers remotely. With physical valuations no longer possible (until today) clients know that our AVM is not only reliable but can quickly and easily be used to provide robust digital valuations.

“This, combined with transparent and regular reporting, gives clients the confidence they need to meet the needs of their customers and make informed lending decisions.”

Hometrack launched its  AVM in 2002 and now provides over 50 million automated valuations each year, covering both origination and portfolio valuation. It has expanded into European markets via partnerships with market leaders such as the European AVM Alliance (EAA) and Calcasa.