Recent mortgage and remortgage lending figures for the month of May have painted quite a descriptive picture. As house prices have increased over the last one year to eighteen months, the number of those able to afford a spot on the property ladder or to move home is being squeezed. Wage growth and tighter lending criteria is placing a barrier in front of many which is tough to overcome. Many first time buyers are not just resorting to saving their funds for a future purchase, they are choosing to live with mum and dad until conditions improve enough for them to start legitimately saving for their first home.

Remortgage has proven itself to be a powerful lending tool capable of changing financial lives forever. House owners are able to secure a fixed rate mortgage loan which makes it possible to save money each month and gain access to valuable funds through the process. Most lenders made it possible to obtain remortgage after owning a property for at least six months. Now, some lenders are making it possible to obtain a remortgage on day one of owning the property.

Many lenders are cutting interest rates on fixed rate deals in anticipation of a spike in demand before a potential standard base rate rise in August. This move by lenders to grab the attention of those home owners now seeking remortgage before their monthly mortgage repayment increases is one more thing which makes it a borrowers’ market currently. Lenders are also offering discounts on valuations and closing costs. Some are even offering cash back.

Mortgage lending figures for the month of May are now surfacing and indicate original home loans to home buyers fell short of the amount of lending by those obtaining remortgage. Home buyers increased lending year on year almost 9%. The total amount of mortgage lending by quantity during the month of May totaled £22.2bn. The amount of total lending was however down month on month almost 4%. Remortgage activity as expected was strong in the month of May.

One of the nation’s leading estate agent has recently made notice of the continued subdued housing market and is making changes to help weather the storm. The firm is seeing longer transaction times and in effect is expecting lower profits for the year 2018. Many other estate agents are finding similar conditions as lower house sales are dominating the landscape in many parts of the country. According to a well-known index, house prices fell 0.2% between the months of April and May. A shortage remains present as many estate agents are seeing few properties currently being added to new listings.

The number of remortgage approvals during the first half of the year has been strong and housing experts expect the same type of activity to continue as the year progresses. Starting in January, the year got off to an excellent start as almost 50,000 remortgages were obtained. This was not just encouraging for the remainder of the year, but set a high bar for the market in general. January level of remortgage has not been seen in more than eight years. Low interest rates and lender competition are two areas which are being noted as reasons for the strong interest in remortgage.