Mortgage term protection sales rose 7.3% (£1.4m) to £20.5m in Q2, following a 4.1% (£1.8bn) rise in mortgage sales during the same period. The analysis from Equifax Touchstone, a leading financial intermediary and customer profiling provider, shows that overall protection sales were only marginally up, climbing 0.2% to £121.4m.

The data, which is collated from all the main protection product providers, shows a 14.6% increase in sales of decreasing term with critical illness policies (rising to £8.1m). Income protection followed closely, up by 13.1% to £9.0m.  
Positive headway was offset by falls in whole of life (-11.1%) and term (-5.2%) sales. Year on year, sales for these policies were down -18.2% and -18.4% respectively.

John Driscoll, Director at Equifax Touchstone, said: “Our analysis has unveiled sluggish growth in overall protection sales during the second quarter of the year, with bright spots offset by declines in the term and whole of life markets.

“Despite strong sales in Q2 we expect a slowdown in mortgage term protection sales over the next quarter. The summer period is traditionally slow for mortgages and we also have the added uncertainty stemming from the EU referendum. However, the impact is likely to be short-term and may easily be offset by growth in other areas.”