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Record levels of equity withdrawn from homes

Christina Hoghton
Written By:
Christina Hoghton
Posted:
Updated:
28/04/2016

A staggering £965.6m of equity was withdrawn through remortgaging in March

The total amount of equity withdrawn through remortgaging hit £965.6m last month – the largest amount recorded in the month of March since 2008.

The represents an increase of 19% compared to February, according to LMS, while total equity withdrawn is up by 61% year-on-year from the £600.4m recorded in March 2015.

The value of gross remortgage lending is up 8% from March 2015’s figure of £4.3bn, while the number of remortgage loans taken out has risen by 10% over the last 12 months.

Equity boost

The average amount of equity withdrawn from remortgaging per customer rose by 11% from £28,685 in February to £31,887 in March. This is a massive 47% higher than March of last year (£21,755) and is the largest amount ever withdrawn in the month of March.

Andy Knee, chief executive of LMS said: “Over the coming months, speculation about the possibility of a Brexit will continue to dominate news and wreak havoc with the financial markets. However, this should not dissuade people from remortgaging.

“Competitive rates mean the affordability of remortgages remains good and homeowners can vastly cut their monthly outgoings or withdraw large sums of money to cover an immediate cost. Latest views from the Bank of England suggest the Base Rate could fall even further boosting an already positive offering.”