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New figures show remortgaging boomed over the Summer

Christina Hoghton
Written By:
Christina Hoghton
Posted:
Updated:
12/09/2018

Savvy borrowers chose to lock into a new deal before the highly anticipated interest rate rise in August

Remortgaging boomed in July with 46,900 new homeowner remortgages taken out according to UK Finance.

This is 23.1% more than in the same month a year earlier. By value the £8.7bn of remortgaging completed in July in was 26.1% more year-on-year.

Purchase market stalled

There were 32,600 new homemover mortgages completed in the month, 3.8% fewer than in the same month a year earlier. The £7.3bn of new lending in the month was the same year-on-year.

There were just 1% more first-time buyer mortgages in July that a year earlier, said the trade body.

Jackie Bennett, director of mortgages at UK Finance, said: “The residential remortgaging market saw its strongest July in over a decade, as homeowners pre-empted the latest Bank of England rate rise by locking into attractive fixed-rate deals.

“The number of first-time buyers has returned to modest year-on-year growth. However, affordability remains a challenge for many prospective borrowers, underlining the importance of clarity over the future of schemes such as Help to Buy.”The founder of cashbackremortgages.co.uk

Suchit Sethi, founder of cashbackremortgages.co.uk, agreed that the remortgage boost was no surprise: “The MPC’s decision was effectively a formality with the weeks preceding the decision full of hints, briefings and well-informed chatter.

“Those who failed to remortgage missed the boat this time, as lenders have sought to pass on the interest rate rise in full.

“However it is important to consider the fact that new homeowner mortgages are down again compared to last year, painting a concerning picture of the state of the UK housing market.”