Record number of families remortgage homes

The number of households remortgaging properties has risen to the highest level since before the recession, according to figures.

More people took out a new mortgage on their homes last month than in any April since 2008 and the average remortgage is at an all-time high of £160,806. The analysis by LMS Remortgage suggests that increasing numbers of cash-strapped households are trying to release equity from their property and comes as a new prediction over interest rates suggests that 3 per cent is likely to become the norm within three to five years.

“The Bank rate averaged about 5 per cent in the decade or so before the crisis,” Charlie Bean, the outgoing Bank of England Deputy Governor for monetary policy, told BBC Radio 4’s The World At One. “It’s reasonable to think that, because of the headwinds still out there as well as the global forces ... the level we go to three or five years out might be a couple of percentage points below that,” he said.

LMS Remortgage Report reveals the number of remortgage loans rose 21 per cent in April, and 28 per cent year-on-year to a total of £4.4bn.