Increase in direct products in July

TrigoldCrystal Product Index May 09 June 09 July 09

Total number of mortgage sources 642,321 788,483 672,124

Average monthly mortgage payment £769.57 £781.09 £765.80

Average number of [Intermediary Only] products 2,673 2,610 2,202

NEW: Average number of DIRECT ONLY products 1,118 1,194 1,240

Mortgage Product Highlights:

• The average number of live products available to Mortgage Intermediaries fell from 2,610 in June to 2,202 in July – a reduction of 408 individual products and a drop of 6%.

• Year on year analysis shows that mortgage product availability was significantly lower than previous years. Previous stats reveal products numbers to be 13,464 in July 2008 and 64,803 in July 2007.

• The average number of live Direct Only products available in the month of July was 1,240. This is an increase of 46 products from June.

Mortgage Sourcing Highlights:

• 672,124 mortgage sources were performed in July which is a fall in intermediary activity of 14.76% when compared with June, a fall in broker activity in real terms of 116,359 individual mortgage searches.

• This is a significant 47% drop in broker activity from last July (2008) when 903,512 individual mortgage searches were performed.

Mortgage Pricing Highlights:

• The average monthly mortgage payment in July was £765.80 which is marginally lower than the previous month equating to a saving of £15.29.

David Aylmer, marketing and business development director at TrigoldCrystal commented on the results saying: “Although broker activity has fallen slightly since June, it is still in excess of May’s levels and seems to be holding firm. The results do still show that over six hundred and seventy thousand mortgage sources were performed by brokers during last month however this is some way short of the level seen in July last year which shows that 903,512 sources were performed.

“Product availability continues to be one of the central issues in the mortgage sector with July showing yet another fall in the number of intermediary products from 2,610 in June to 2,202 in July. What should also be of interest to brokers is the increase in the number of ‘direct only’ products which have been increasing month on month since April this year. Brokers can use TrigoldCrystal’s Prospector sourcing system to research and review all of these products and many brokers charging a fee for their advice continue to do so.

“The average monthly cost of a mortgage continues to remain stable with the average payment £15 lower than in June. There is certainly some seasonal impact on broker activity levels and so these statistics should not be seen as completely negative and with brokers able to research and review direct only products using TrigoldCrystal they will be able to make and informed decisions about their product recommendations.”