Most homeowners face years of paying down their mortgage debt, in fact it normally takes decades upon decades as the largest investment most people make in their lives demands a large percentage of their income.  The ability to take reserves from the household budget and put it toward the mortgage payoff can help a homeowner build up the equity in their home while lowering their debt at a quicker pace. 

This is a necessary injection of equity from homeowners when they find themselves close to going underwater when house prices plummet as they did during the recession.  However, now that the housing market is stronger and house prices have risen, data released from the Bank of England reveals that fewer payments toward equity injection are occurring.

The latest report marks the fifth consecutive quarter that homeowners spent less toward paying off their mortgage debt.

Another trend associated with higher equity levels is that of equity release through remortgaging.  If homeowners are seeking to release cash from their built equity then that could cause the Banks’ data to reveal lower mortgage debt payoff.

Remortgaging has yet to rise to the level of demand that was expected by experts when the warnings grew louder of an impending interest rate increase by the Bank of England.  Currently the expectation is that borrowing will become more expensive for home buyers and homeowners will face higher interest remortgage deals and repayment amounts by spring of next year. 

For those seeking a remortgage deal to secure a low interest rate or for releasing cash from their built equity, it will do them well to shop around.  Lenders have in the past few weeks been adding new low interest rate deals to their offerings.  Some have been at the cheapest remortgage interest rate level seen in years.