September surge follows lender repricing, with Nationwide now the top lender on its platform
Remortgage instructions at conveyancing distributor conveybuddy rose 19% in the third quarter from the second, as borrowers and advisers responded to a fresh round of lender product withdrawals and pricing changes.
The company, which released its Q3 figures on Tuesday, said sale and purchase instructions also grew 8% quarter on quarter. Combined sale, purchase and remortgage instructions rose 12%, and survey instructions increased 13%. The three-month count of broker users climbed almost 10%.
The figures are drawn from conveybuddy's own platform and do not measure the wider market.
September was the strongest month. Instructions for the firm's All-Inclusive Remortgage product jumped 61% from August, returning to within 11% of the exceptional levels recorded in March. Across the quarter, those instructions rose 22% on Q2 and finished 4% below Q1, which included the March spike.
conveybuddy said it saw a similar catalyst in March, when geopolitical tensions pushed up swap rates and lender funding costs. In Q2, it had reported remortgage activity returning to more normal levels, with sale and purchase work accounting for 63% of instructions.
Harpal Singh, chief executive of conveybuddy, said: "Q3 has moved the story on again, because we have now seen strong growth in remortgage instructions, and importantly, that has not come at the expense of sale and purchase activity."
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Nationwide moves to the top
Nationwide became the most-used lender among conveybuddy's All-Inclusive Remortgage cases in Q3, accounting for 25% of instructions, almost one in four. It had been second in Q2, when Barclays led. Barclays, Santander and NatWest followed Nationwide in Q3.
conveybuddy said the rise was likely due to Nationwide offering remortgage borrowers a choice between free standard legal fees and £500 cashback across its remortgage products. Nationwide's website lists the same choice.
Singh said advisers were "clearly playing an important role here in helping clients understand the different conveyancing options available to them, rather than assuming the lender's legal service will automatically be the right route."
Repricing drives demand
The surge followed a month of sharp repricing. Moneyfactscompare.co.uk reported on Monday that the average two-year fixed mortgage rate had reached 5.98%, its highest since December 2023, and the average five-year fixed rate hit 6% for the first time in about three years. Fixed deals priced below 5% fell from nearly 1,500 at the start of September to nine.
Barclays raised selected fixed rates four times in September, while HSBC, Lloyds Bank, Nationwide, Santander and TSB each did so three times, Moneyfacts said. Rachel Springall, a finance expert at the site, tied the moves to swap-rate volatility as the conflict in the Middle East pressured oil supplies.
Remortgaging is under particular scrutiny this year. UK Finance has projected about 1.8 million fixed-rate mortgages will expire in 2026. Bank of England figures showed remortgage approvals with a different lender fell to 34,000 in August from 34,600 in July.
Transactions and advisers
Sale and purchase activity at conveybuddy rose even as wider housing indicators softened. HMRC provisional data put seasonally adjusted residential transactions at 95,220 in August, and the Bank of England reported 54,900 approvals for house purchase, the lowest since December 2023.
Singh said the figures showed healthy activity "across different parts of the mortgage and property market." He said the 8% rise in sale and purchase instructions, 13% rise in surveys and almost 10% growth in adviser use all pointed that way.
He also said more advisers were recognising the value of conveyancing advice, which "allows them to provide a broader service and generate additional income from the clients they are already servicing."
conveybuddy launched in 2024 and offers a panel management service covering sale, purchase, remortgage and survey cases.
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