It is no surprise that remortgages increased in the last few months of 2010 and that more of the same is expected in early 2011. Homeowners could not ignore all of the signs that were pointing that the time was right. News and data from all directions were pointing toward the signs that things were not going to get any better but they could get worse.

For one, inflation is rising. Data from those that report on the consumer price index, which is used to measure inflation have put it around 3.3%. Another inflation measure, the retail price index which takes the housing market into consideration, is over 4.5%. In addition, one only had to look at the prices in their food aisles to realize that inflation was increasing more and more.

Meanwhile, the days of tax increase and the public spending cuts are here. They’ve been talked about, the warnings were there that purse strings of the government were tightening and now we all realize they weren’t kidding. It wasn’t a threat, it is a reality. Just how these will effect inflation is unknown. Analysts expect it will lower inflation, but can it really bring inflation down from 3.3% to the Bank of England’s goal of 2.0%?

The Monetary Policy Committee has been waiting to see the effects on inflation as well, and while the interest base rate was left at 0.5%, it is expected that there may be a rate change soon. This could mean higher mortgage payments for anyone that doesn’t have a fixed rate mortgage. It also would mean that those waiting to secure a low fixed rate remortgage would need to act before rates increased.

Add in the fact that lending is constrained and the Financial Services Authority is expected to possibly put tougher regulations in place after they conclude their mortgage review and it seems there couldn’t be much else that would be needed to nudge a homeowner into considering that the time is right for a remortgage. Except there is more, as lenders are pulling their best deals on fixed rates off the table and few of the deals found just a few weeks ago are still available. No, it doesn’t take a crystal ball to see that remortgages are a popular product when it comes to mortgage lending and demand is only expected to increase in the days and weeks ahead.