Quantcast
Menu

News

Remortgage lending rockets to seven-year high

Christina Hoghton
Written By:
Christina Hoghton
Posted:
Updated:
26/05/2016

The value of remortgage lending has increased 48% over the last month, to reach its largest level since November 2008

Monthly remortgage lending rose to a massive £6.4bn in April, the largest amount since the £7bn recorded in November 2008 more than seven years ago, according to figures from LMS.

The property services business said that this represents a 36% increase on the £4.7bn recorded in March and a 48% uplift on April 2015’s figure of £4.3bn.

More money, more loans

The number of remortgage loans taken out last month also increased – by 41% – from 28,000 in March to 39,353 in April. This is 47% more than April 2015 when 26,700 borrowers remortgaged. And it’s the largest number of remortgages taken out since July 2009.

Andy Knee, chief executive of LMS said: “Remortgaging in April has bounced back after a quiet March, with levels of activity taking place that haven’t been seen since the recession. March saw the market overwhelmed by second homeowners looking to push through transactions before changes to Stamp Duty came in, but as April arrived, existing homeowners were able to remortgage and capitalise on the great rates currently available.

“The average amount people are withdrawing through remortgaging fell to a 13-month low, suggesting household budgets are not as constrained as previously. Homeowners can also celebrate that – as a result of such low mortgage rates and rising incomes – repayments as a percentage of income have fallen to a record low, boosting family finances.”


Tags:
Share: