Although this is down 14.8% on July’s £3.8bn reported by the Council for Mortgage Lenders last week, it is 8.0% higher than this time last year.
The CML has also reported that total gross mortgage lending held steady at £16.6bn in August. As a result, remortgages now represent a fifth (20%) of the market.
LMS estimates that the total number of remortgage loans in August decreased by 19.7% to 21,682, compared with 27,000 in July. This figure is also down 4.5% on this time last year (22,700).
The average remortgage loan amount, however, has risen by 2.4% over the past month and now stands at £149,367. This figure is also 10.3% higher than this time last year.
Commenting on the latest figures, Andy Knee, Chief Executive of LMS says:
“Although remortgage lending has experienced a noticeable knock in August there is no need to be despondent as the figures compare favourably year-on-year.
“We all knew that recovery following the downturn in 2008 was going to be a long and bumpy road, so when presented with a fall such as this, it is always best to take a step back and consider them in terms of the bigger picture.
“It would appear that the entire market has reached a plateau in August, with the CML reporting that gross mortgage lending has held steady at £16.6bn. The remortgage market’s contraction means that remortgages only represented a fifth of the market in August, but we will no doubt see further reshuffles in the months to come.”
