Remortgaging approvals hit a four-year high, amounting to £4.05bn in July, data from the British Bankers Association showed, which is nearly 29 per cent up on a year ago.
The monthly statistical release, published today (26 August) found that mortgage approvals in July were 15 per cent higher than a year ago, with house purchases rising 11 per cent.
Gross mortgage borrowing was around £11.8bn in July, 11.5 per cent higher than in July 2014. After seeing slower demand in the second half of 2014, the overall mortgage stock is now 1.2 per cent higher than a year ago, the BBA added.
Richard Woolhouse, chief economist at the BBA, said that savvy homeowners are snapping up competitive deals before an expected increase in interest rates.
“There were concerns that new regulations had made applying for a mortgage more onerous.”
Mark Harris, chief executive of mortgage broker SPF Private Clients, agreed that borrowers are locking into cheap fixed-rate mortgages before they disappear.
“While fixes aren’t quite as cheap as they have been, they are still almost ridiculously low when looked at from an historical perspective and are likely to remain competitive for the foreseeable future as lenders compete for business in the second half of the year.
“Tougher affordability criteria, as a result of the Mortgage Market Review, are making it harder for some people to remortgage with brokers seeing increased demand from concerned borrowers.”
The BBA’s statistics also showed that deposits into Isas fell by more than £400m in July, although it cautioned that direct comparisons cannot be made with last year as the change to Isa limits last July led to substantial deposits of £4.9bn that month.
peter.walker@ft.com
