Mortgage Monitor: Lenders anticipate easing of lockdown with new products and criteria

Measures taken by banks include raising the loan-to-value ratios they are willing to lend at, raising the caps at which they will accept desktop valuations, and introducing additional products. This week, for example, the number of available mortgage products increased for the second consecutive week by 5.9% to 8,044, according to lending technology company Mortgage Brain, albeit that's still down almost half since the onset of the crisis.

These moves follow three turbulent weeks for the lenders as they grappled with the influx of calls prompted by two Bank of England emergency rate cuts, the introduction of mortgage holidays and difficulties obtaining valuations amid social distancing restrictions. In late March, some lenders stopped accepting new mortgage applications altogether as they tried to stem the flow of business. 

"It's clear the banks have started to clear the backlog of cases and are now looking at each other, realising the lockdown may lift soon and trying to re-establish their pipeline of business," says Hina Bhudia, partner at Knight Frank Finance. "Though difficulties obtaining physical valuations continue, it's clear the market is becoming more fluid, so any borrowers that would like to get a new mortgage in place are advised to get their application in as soon as possible to be at the front of the queue when normality starts to return."