Mortgage lending within the UK housing market has been on a real tear as of late, especially the remortgage sector. Over the past few years, lenders have been spending most of their time attempting to stay caught up with the surge in demand. The standard base rate has seen two increases in the last sixteen months, but lenders have made quite an effort to make mortgage lending affordable to all who are in the market. It has been a borrower market to say the least.

The latest data indicates mortgage lending is coming off the surge which it has enjoyed over the past few years. Borrowers are preparing for the next period within the housing market which includes few answers and many questions about what conditions will be like following Brexit. This has caused many would-be borrowers to pause and wait on decisions regarding buying or selling property.

Economic figures from UK Finance released recently show January mortgage lending was down over last year by 1.5%. The total amount of mortgage lending approved in the first month of 2019 was £21.6bn. Home mortgage approvals increased in the month 1.5% compared with the same month last year.

Remortgage has also demonstrated a lack of activity compared with most of the last two years. During the month of January, overall remortgage approvals fell more than 3% compared with January of 2018.

Many house owners took advantage of low interest rates and numerous incentives during the year 2018. Locking into a fixed, long term remortgage prompted the strong showing as well as the uncertain created by Brexit.