Remortgaging hits four-year high
The BBA has today published its High Street Banking Statistics for July 2015.
Key points:
– Overall mortgage approvals numbers in July were 15% higher than a year ago, with house purchases rising 11% and remortgaging nearly 29% up – to its highest level for 4 years – as borrowers continue to lock in to fixed rates to maintain control of their mortgage costs.
– Lending to larger companies increased in July but overall continues to be fairly subdued. However, capital market finance grew by some £11.1bn in the first seven months of 2015.
– In the wider credit card market the number of credit card purchases in July was 6% higher than a year before and continues to exceed growth in credit card borrowing (+4%).
Richard Woolhouse, chief economist, at the BBA, said: “These figures show that thousands of us managed to tear ourselves away from the Ashes series to remortgage during July.
“This was a 29% surge on 12 months before and the highest figure we’ve seen for four years. Savvy homeowners are snapping up competitive deals before an expected increase in interest rates.
“There were concerns that new regulations had made applying for a mortgage more onerous. But remortgaging is still a straightforward process that can take even less time than Alastair Cook and his men took to beat Australia.”
To view the High Street Banking Statistics, please click here.
