In the month of June, there were 1.5 per cent fewer first-time buyer mortgages and 3.6 per cent fewer homemover mortgages than compared with the same month last year.

The latest UK Finance Mortgage Trends data also revealed that the number of new buy-to-let mortgages completed in the month fell 3.6 per cent year-on-year.

There was an 8.3 per cent increase in remortgages in June compared with the same month last year with the average additional amount borrowed reaching £56,100.

The data also showed that pound-for-pound remortgages – with no additional borrowing – were 23.9 per cent lower than June last year.

This indicated that borrowers who would have traditionally taken out a pound-for-pound remortgage were switching products internally instead – confirmed by the 1.2 million borrowers last year who switched with their existing provider.

It was suggested this was also a result of a drop in the number of fixed rate mortgages coming to an end as in Q2 2019, 400,000 products came to an end compared to 440,000 in Q2 2018.

During the month, there were 12,500 remortgages in the buy-to-let sector, which was 0.8 per cent fewer than the same month in 2018.

‘Sign of caution’

Rob Barnard, sales director at Masthaven, said the upward trend in remortgaging was a “sign of the caution” many felt towards the housing market during the period of political turbulence. He noted that despite that, the first-time buyer market remained “largely unaffected”.

Barnard added: “With the end of the Help to Buy Scheme in 2023 and no signs of the end of the current political disruption, there is an onus on the market to offer increased product innovation and incentives to encourage would-be buyers to take the next steps onto, or up, the property ladder.”

Gareth Lewis, commercial director of MT Finance, said: “There is an element of stagnation in the property market with people putting off buying, which is reflected in these figures. It isn’t surprising but it isn’t all doom and gloom, with transaction levels far from falling off a cliff.

“With a number of homeowners taking equity out of their property, it looks as though this is going towards home improvements rather than debt consolidation as other figures suggest people aren’t taking on extra debt.

“This is encouraging as it will be improving the value of their home, rather than being spent on lavish holidays or new cars.”