The amount of homeowners remortgaging in June rose by a third, as they hope to avoid imminent interest rate rises.
Around 31,600 loans worth £5.1 billion were granted in June, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).
Additionally, 28,300 first time buyers had mortgages worth a total of £4.2 billion approved in June. This is a 22% increase on May.
Director General of the CML, Paul Smee, says: “It is likely people are now beginning to feel a rate rise is a realistic prospect and not just a distant theoretical possibility.”1
1 Binns, D. (2015) ‘Re-mortgages soar to beat interest rate rise’, Metro, 12 August, p.2