The North West and Scotland bared the brunt of the recent slump in mortgage sales. According to research, Northern Ireland was the only region to report sales growth at 2.7%.

The research from Equifax Touchstone shows North West sales dropping by 7.7%, with Scotland following closely behind at -7.0%.

Buy-to-let mortgage sales dropped by 9.5% (-£276.3m) on March levels and residential mortgage sales were down by 2.8% (-£367.5m).

Buy-to-let sales have now dropped by a third (-£1.3bn) from February’s high ahead of the stamp duty changes.

Iain Hill, Relationship Manager at Equifax Touchstone, said: “The slump in buy-to-let mortgage sales comes as no surprise given the recent changes in stamp duty, but it will be interesting to see how providers respond. The FCA this week highlighted the need for further improvements in mortgage competition, and the importance of catering for older consumers. We’ve already seen a number of interesting products come to market in recent months, including 100 per cent mortgages and intergenerational offerings. We expect this drive in innovation to continue with more launches ahead.”