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Remortgage lending falls 11.3% in February

Julia Rampen
Written By:
Julia Rampen
Posted:
Updated:
22/03/2013

Remortgage lending fell by 11.3% last month to

The conveyancer, which processes 28% of UK remortgages, said the total number of remortgage loans decreased by 12.4% from 20,332 in January to 17,812 in February.

However, the size of the average remortgage loan increased to £143,333 – 6.6% higher than February last year.

LMS chief executive Andy Knee said the drop in lending could be partly attributed to a Christmas and New Year lull in remortgage applications.

“However, the fact that it was still annually down by 1.8% suggests that the Funding for Lending Scheme still needs more time to bed in and we would urge the Government to continue with the scheme in its current form.

“This is hopefully now looking more likely in light of the Chancellor’s Budget statement.

“An extension of the FLS, together with continuing falls in mortgage rates for both new and existing borrowers, suggests that all types of mortgage lending should grow strongly over the coming months.”

The average extra equity each client took out rose by 9.3% to £14,214.

February saw a slight rise in the frequency of remortgages to four years and nine months. The average loan-to-value also crept up to 58%.

In England, London had the largest average remortgage value of £228,870 while the North East had the lowest at £92,306.