EWS1 or equivalent lender data on mortgage valuations for flats: October 2023 to December 2023, United Kingdom
Published 21 March 2024
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Headlines
Data received by DLUHC, provided by 6 mortgage lenders in the UK, shows that the majority of mortgage valuations for flats do not require an EWS1 form or equivalent. Between October 2023 and December 2023 there were 33,000 mortgage valuations for flats in the UK by these lenders, with EWS1 forms or equivalent being required in less than one in ten cases.
During the October-December 2023 quarter, an EWS1 form or equivalent was required by lenders for 9% of mortgage valuations for flats in the UK, no change from 9% in July to September 2023.
Data received by DLUHC from 5 mortgage lenders who provided height breakdown information, covering 28,000 mortgage valuations between October 2023 and December 2023, shows that height is a key factor in whether an EWS1 form or equivalent is required:
- 46% of mortgage valuations for flats in buildings 7 storeys and above required an EWS1 form or equivalent during the October 2023 to December 2023 quarter, a decrease from 48% in the July 2023 to September 2023 quarter.
- Flats in mid-rise buildings (5-6 storeys), required an EWS1 form or equivalent in 25% of valuations during the October 2023-December 2023 quarter, no change from 25% in the July 2023 to September 2023 quarter.
- Flats in the lowest-rise buildings (1-4 storeys) required an EWS1 form or equivalent in 2% of mortgage valuations during the October 2023-December 2023 quarter, the same as in the July 2023 to September 2023 quarter.
Introduction
External wall fire review process forms, also known as ‘EWS1’ forms, have been developed by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), UK Finance and the Building Societies Association to support the valuation process for high-rise residential buildings with cladding. An EWS1 form is not a government or regulatory requirement, nor is it a building or life safety assessment. RICS published guidance on the criteria that should be used to determine whether a building needs an EWS1 form, which was last updated 28 January 2022 (RICS, 2022). Following the industry statement on cladding on 20 December 2022, we understand that some lenders have changed the way they use EWS1s in assessing mortgage applications on properties in buildings 11 metres/5 storeys and above in England.
This data release publishes information on the number of EWS1 forms or equivalent that have been required as reported by 6 major lenders in the United Kingdom. This data release does not constitute an Official Statistics or National Statistics release. DLUHC has received monthly data in an aggregated, anonymised format for the period April 2021 to December 2023. Lenders have provided figures for the total number of valuations carried out for flats, and the number of these valuations where an EWS1 form or equivalent was required. Where possible, these data are categorised according to building height. Five of the 6 mortgage lenders provided height breakdown information, covering 28,000 of the 33,000 mortgage valuations for the October 2023-December 2023 quarter. Between the April to June 2021 and January to March 2022 quarters, only 3 of the 7 lenders provided full height breakdown information. The publication of lenders’ EWS1 data will be updated quarterly.
These data are as reported to DLUHC and represent the majority of the lending market.
Data tables
Table 1. Quarterly mortgage valuations and EWS1 form (or equivalent) requirements
Total = total valuations received
Percent = percentage of total valuations
| Latest Quarter | Previous Quarter | Equivalent Quarter previous year | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct-Dec 232 | Jul-Sept 23 | Oct-Dec 22 | ||||
| Total number of mortgage valuations for flats for which data was received | 33,000 | 34,000 | 37,000 | |||
| Total1 | Percent | Total1 | Percent | Total1 | Percent | |
| Mortgage valuations for flats where an EWS1 form or equivalent was required | 3,000 | 9% | 3,000 | 9% | 3,000 | 7% |
| Mortgage valuations for flats where an EWS1 form or equivalent was not required | 30,000 | 91% | 31,000 | 91% | 34,000 | 93% |
1 Number of valuations is rounded to the nearest 1,000.
Table 2. Quarterly mortgage valuations and EWS1 form (or equivalent) requirements, by height
Total = total valuations received
Percent = percentage of valuations where an EWS1 form was required
| Latest Quarter | Previous Quarter | Equivalent Quarter Previous Year | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct – Dec 232 | Jul - Sept 232 | Oct-Dec 222 | ||||
| Total number of mortgage valuations for which height breakdown data was received | 28,000 | 29,000 | 23,000 | |||
| Total1 | Percent | Total1 | Percent | Total1 | Percent | |
| Low Rise (1-4 storeys) | 21,000 | 2% | 22,000 | 2% | 17,000 | 2% |
| Mid Rise (5-6 storeys) | 3,000 | 25% | 3,000 | 25% | 3,000 | 26% |
| Combined lowest rise and mid-rise (under 7 storeys) | 24,000 | 5% | 25,000 | 5% | 20,000 | 5% |
| High Rise (7 Storeys or more) | 3,000 | 46% | 3,000 | 48% | 3,000 | 49% |
1 Number of valuations is rounded to the nearest 1,000.
2 These figures are calculated from data from 5 major lenders, as these lenders had full height breakdowns for all valuations in this quarter.
Definitions
Lenders either use EWS1 forms, or their own in-house equivalent.
“EWS1 form or equivalent was required” includes flats in buildings where an EWS1 form or equivalent was already held for the building. Therefore, these figures are likely to be higher than the number of new EWS1 forms or equivalent that lenders request.
Mortgage valuations refer to the total number of valuations completed as part of a mortgage application process, covering regulated mortgages, buy-to-let mortgages and second-home mortgages. Cash purchases are not included. These data do not reflect mortgages granted or sales.
Data quality
Data is provided by lenders to DLUHC in an aggregated, anonymised format. DLUHC consequently does not have oversight of lenders’ collection systems and quality procedures. This is the tenth data publication. DLUHC are continuing to work with lenders with a view to further enhance its quality and seek further data to better understand the impact of EWS1 requirement on mortgage transactions.
Lenders were asked to provide monthly data from April 2021 onwards on EWS1s. In early data returns, there are some gaps for specific months from different lenders. Where monthly data were missing, DLUHC requested these data, but DLUHC did not attempt to impute missing data and the data was not included. In this publication we are updating to include the most up to date data, for the period October 2023 to December 2023.
Prior to August 2021, there were historic data quality issues with inconsistent height brackets below 7 storeys between lenders, and therefore data collected before and after this date are not directly comparable. Height has a large impact on the percentage of valuations requiring an EWS1 form which is why these periods are not comparable under 7 storeys.
From April 2021 to January 2022, only 3 of the 7 mortgage lenders provided sufficient height breakdown information to be included in the analysis by height. Then, from February 2022 to December 2022, 5 of the 7 mortgage lenders provided height breakdown information. From January 2023 to March 2023, 4 of the 7 mortgage lenders have provided height breakdown information. From April 2023 to June 2023, 4 of the 6 mortgage lenders have provided height breakdown information. Then, from July 2023 to December 2023, 5 of the 6 mortgage lenders have provided height breakdown information.
From April 2023, one lender ceased to provide information, so from April 2023 onwards, the data of 6 lenders has been used.
This publication covers the latest quarter of data (October to December 2023).