As UK lenders return to the market, data from Legal & General’s SmartrFit platform reveals which areas of the market remain healthy despite the overall drop in demand.

As the Help to Buy scheme reached its final few months, November data reveals buyers continued to search for alternative support. Criteria searches for products suitable for Discounted Market Sale (DMS) schemes grew by almost a quarter (20%) in November. In a similar vein, searches on behalf of borrowers using gifted deposits climbed by 7%.

With the cost-of-living crisis continuing to hit household finances, the data suggests a large shift in priorities when it came to borrowing options. November saw a 60% jump in criteria searches for interest-only mortgages, exceeding market averages. With energy bills rising, this potentially contributed to a further 67% spike in searches for products that consider a property’s energy performance certificate (EPC).

November's data also showed signs of optimism in the buy-to-let sector specifically, with a 10% growth in criteria searches for holiday lets. In addition to this, searches for ‘regulated’ buy-to-let mortgages rocketed by 59%, with increasing numbers of borrowers renting out their property to a relative.