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First-time Buyers

Remortgage boost in June as the number of homebuyers fell

Christina Hoghton
Written By:
Christina Hoghton
Posted:
Updated:
14/08/2018

Buyers may be cautious but existing borrowers are keen to switch to a better deal

First-time buyer and home mover business was down in June, according to UK Finance, but remortgaging was up compared to a year earlier.

There were 34,900 new first-time buyer mortgages completed in June, 3.6% fewer than in the same month a year earlier. The £5.8bn of new lending in the month was 1.7% down year-on-year.

There was an even greater fall in home movers, with just 33,700 new homemover mortgages completed in the month, 7.9% down on the same month a year earlier.

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However, remortgaging business boosted total lending, seeing a signifincant increase. There were 37,400 new homeowner remortgages completed in June, up 8.4% on the previous year. The £6.8bn of remortgaging in the month was 13.3% up year-on-year.

Jackie Bennett, director of mortgages at UK Finance, said: “Remortgaging continued to dominate in June with figures up 13% on the same period last year as existing two and three year products came to an end and borrowers opted for new deals.

“Despite a boost in recent months, speculation of a base rate rise saw the market remain relatively subdued with year-on-year declines in activity among both first time buyers and home movers as customers adopted a ‘wait and see’ approach.”