Mortgage valuation activity last month was kept up by buy-to-let while first-time buyers faded away, says a national firm.
Connells Survey & Valuation said that overall activity fell back 1% on October, but was up 3% on November last year.
New BTL valuations drove November’s figures, with a 14% rise in activity in the sector compared with October, and 18% up on the same month a year ago.
Altogether, BTL valuations made up 16% of the market, the highest since 2007.
John Bagshaw, corporate services director of Connells Survey & Valuation, said: “November was far from a stellar month for the mortgage market by historic standards, but buy-to-let was a star performer.”
BTL valuations activity fell 8% on October, but was still 4% above the level of a year ago. However, the proportion of first-time buyer valuation activity was at its lowest since March.
Bagshaw said: “With an overcrowded rental market, first-time buyers are losing out as lenders keep tight mortgage criteria for the limited number of high LTV loans on the market, despite the Funding for Lending scheme’s growing influence.
“The Autumn Statement was a missed opportunity to boost the lower end of the market.
“First-time buyers would have welcomed a renewed Stamp Duty holiday for properties under £250,000, a move which would have provided new impetus to the market and taken the pressure off the success of the Funding for Lending scheme.
“As things stand, unless lenders are able divert disproportionately more cheap funds to first-timers, the housing market’s recovery is likely be as slow as that of the wider economy.”
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