Uncertain is the most common description of the UK housing market these days, according to many close to the market. One year earlier, gross lending during the same month hit £21.4bn which is 2.3% higher than March of this year. The month of February this year was not as strong in regard to lending, as a total of £18.9bn was posted. These figures pose an interesting set of data going forward as the most active time of the year in the housing market is quickly approaching.

Mortgage lending within the UK housing market has shown signs of weakening in the past several months and the latest report made public echoes that sentiment. Residential property transactions occurring between the months of February to March fell more than 7% in volume, according to the latest data from HM Revenue and Customs. This data supports the opinions of housing experts claiming the market is slowing down. The data is released on the heels of less than optimistic figures regarding house price growth which is expected to top off at around 2% overall for the year 2018.

Remortgages have been primarily in demand from homeowners in the last few months, but it appears through recent data releases that landlords are starting to seek them. The reason for many of the landlords to get remortgages is reported to release built up equity into cash to allow for renovating properties. By investing into their portfolio of properties they hope to better the condition of their rental properties to bring in higher rental income.

Mortgage lending in general has been at a brisk pace for several years and the UK housing market continues to grow. Currently, a shortage of available properties for purchase and pulling together enough for a down payment on a home are issues facing all. Though other challenges are front and center with the outcome of the Brexit vote and the possibility of another interest rate hike coming in the near future, one thing remains constant and shining brightly in recent years, remortgage.

Nice weather is racing towards us and summer months will be here shortly. Pleasant weather outside offers the opportunity for landlords to make updates to properties within their portfolios. Many landlords actually put together plans at the beginning of the year for renovations and updates to property to take place whilst the weather breaks and into the summer months. Landlords face a common issue as their properties age. They will eventually have to look at the return on investment for each property and decide to keep them or sell. Remortgage of properties could potentially solve the problem and enable them to hang on to their properties for years to come.

Homeowners that have been feeling the rush to remortgage may have been given the gift of more time. Experts had expected that the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) would likely raise the standard base interest rate next month during the May meeting, but now many are changing their forecast until June. If indeed there is a delay in the rate increase it would give homeowners more time to shop for a remortgage and secure a fixed low interest rate deal.