Easter lull in remortgages as April sees 38% decrease

The figures show that for those who remortgaged in April, the average increase in their mortgage payment was £300 and 695 of borrowers saw their payments go up - despite 27% citing lowering repayments as their reason for remortgaging.

Over a third - 37% - of borrowers increased their loan size with an average increase of £20,803, and over half (51%) took out the month's most popular product type, a 5-year fixed rate.

Regionally, remortgage loans were considerably higher - as expected - in London and the South East, with an average remortgage amount of £301,621 compared to an average of £154,478 for the rest of the UK.

Nick Chadbourne, CEO of LMS, said of the figures:

“The anticipated Easter lull was primarily responsible for pushing down instruction and pipeline figures. These seasonal trends always play a part in market activity, although we expect that there are also increasing numbers of borrowers opting for product transfers instead of remortgages amid the affordability squeeze. With borrowers primarily focused on lowering their monthly payments, many are also more inclined to bide their time and wait for better products to become available."

"However, we’re expecting instructions and the pipeline to increase again in May. With the Bank of England raising the base rate to 4.5%, more of those who are on trackers or SVRs will look to switch to a more competitive fixed rate product and the introduction of innovative products such as Skipton’s 100% mortgage will only encourage this further. Aside from that, lenders are generally relaxing their affordability criteria thanks to there being more economic certainty and confidence in employment and house prices, playing into the prediction of an increased pipeline.”