Homeowners have the opportunity to secure a fixed low interest rate for their mortgage debt, yet remortgage demand has remained low. That could be because many homeowners have become used to seeing low interest rates and think it will be the norm for many more months or even years. They have moved off of their mortgage deal after it ended and are now paying their debt based on their lender’s risky standard variable rate (SVR) and believe they will continue to see low interest rates associated with their monthly repayment.

Such belief can put a homeowner at great risk for interest rates will not stay so low. It is true that there have been several warnings concerning the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) increasing the standard base rate, but they have failed to materialize. Warnings come and go, but now as the UK economy continues to strengthen, the interest rate will go up. It is a matter of when not if.

Most importantly there is an expected spring boost to the housing market. This will increase mortgage lending demand and lenders will begin to pull their current competitive rates. Because they will not have to compete for the attention of borrowers they will be able to increase the cost of borrowing. Thus, lender’s interest rates will be higher than they are now.

To take advantage of the current cheap remortgage deals, homeowners should begin shopping soon. How long lenders will be seeking the attention of borrowers is unknown. How fast they will change their competitive rates to higher ones is unknown. How fast mortgage demand will increase is unknown, and how quickly lenders will increase their SVRs is unknown. What is known is that currently there are attractive cheap remortgage deals available and they won’t be available forever.