The £153.7m reduction saw sales down to £2.8bn, while residential figures for October remained the same as the previous month at £12.2bn.

The average value of a residential mortgage in October was £191,926 (2015: £186,505) and £161,021 for buy to let (2015: £158,000).

Northern Ireland and Scotland were hardest hit, with 8.7% and 5.2% reductions in total mortgage sales growth respectively. Only the home counties and south coast experienced a positive trend, rising 2.5% and 1.0% respectively.

However, when comparing January to October 2016 to January to October 2015, there has been an overall increase in total mortgage sales of £6.2bn (+4.4%).

Iain Hill, relationship manager at Equifax Touchstone, said: “The drop in buy-to-let figures this month is disappointing following strong market growth in August and September. It is likely that factors including political uncertainty stemming from Brexit and caution around the Bank of England interest rate plans are contributing to a highly unpredictable market environment.

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“However, mortgage sales growth in the home counties and south coast, and the significant increase in overall mortgage sales for the year are promising signs for an upturn in the market for the remainder of 2016. With six weeks left to year-end, it will be interesting to see where sales figures go from here.”

Equifax Touchstone collects sales data from 77 major product providers, fund managers and platforms as well as inputs from intermediaries.

Regional area	Total mortgage sales growth (October)
Home Counties	+2.5%
South Coast	+1.0%
South West	+0.0%
South East	-1.6%
Midlands	-2.0%
Wales	-2.0%
London	-2.6%
North East	-2.6%
North and Yorkshire	-3.2%
North West	-3.7%
Scotland	-5.2%
Northern Ireland	-8.7%