Amid the countdown to the official date of Brexit, which is March 29, mortgage lending figures have been announced for the month of December. According to data from UK Finance, mortgage lending within the UK housing market was almost 5% higher than the same month last year. Gross mortgage lending for the month of December hit £21.1bn and the total for the year 2018 was £267.5bn. The total is 3.8% higher than the year previous.

The UK housing market is currently making its best effort to keep standing tall after a 2018 year full of lower demand, lower activity, and fewer sales compared with recent years. One thing has been confirmed through all the challenges and that is the resiliency of the market. It has taken several hard blows and is still remaining stable. The Brexit vote completed two years ago created a lack of certainty about where the market was headed and that is affecting the forecast for the coming year.

Forecast within the UK housing market for the year 2019 is only lukewarm according to many analyses now surfacing. Housing experts see this year as one which could be full of challenges and many simply looking forward to the following year, 2020. Although Brexit has placed a lack of optimism in the hearts of those within the market, house owners remain in a favourable position. Lenders are making the idea of remortgage one which could contain immediate savings and an opportunity to capitalise on low interest rates.

Remortgage is proving to be quite beneficial for many house owners currently, even with the day of Brexit coming into focus. Lenders are offering incentives of all types. Valuations are being offered at a discount price and even free in some instances. Other incentives include low prices on legal fees as well as low price to free administration costs. A market leaning in the direction of borrowers is dominating the space right now and that is creating favourable deals for many in search of remortgage.

A clear path to saving money with remortgage can sometimes rely on the lender’s ability to provide an accurate redemption amount to the borrower in a timely manner. This period of waiting for the exact redemption amount can sometimes float into the maturity date of the loan and the borrower reaching the transition to a costly SVR. This issue is now being highlighted and discussed by more experts close to the housing market.

UK housing mortgage lenders are anxiously awaiting the reaction of the market following the day of Brexit which is set to take place on 29 March of this year. Currently, lenders are quite hesitant about taking on a great deal of risk in the form of mortgage lending, according to those close to the housing market. Over the last three months, lenders have become less tolerant of high risk loans and have denied loans to more last quarter than in the previous quarter.