The level of remortgaging has been expected to surge with the low interest rates being offered and the need to save money during the pandemic. However, something interesting happened during lockdowns. The amount of time spent in the home, and the new lifestyle required by lockdowns pushed a desire to live somewhere new. The result was a large number of homeowners became home movers.

Homeowners discovered that they now required more room to work from home and for children to learn and study. There grew a desire to have a home fitness area, a larger kitchen, and for some there was a deep desire for a garden, nearby green spaces, and spare guest rooms for elderly parents or other family members to stay in so quarantines did not leave them living alone.

Another motivator in not staying put is there is perhaps no better time to sell a home. Demand is strong. Homes are spending fewer days on the market before finding a buyer than in over a decade, and asking prices have continuously risen month after month this year. Home buyers are aggressively buying and there is a lack in supply. If a homeowner has been sitting on the fence about selling, the current drive in the market should convince them to take action.

However, there are many homeowners that did stay put and they chose to turn their current home into their pandemic lifestyle dream home. By remortgaging and turning their built up equity into cash, they had money in hand to do upgrades, improvements, and build additional areas into their current dwelling. In turn, many then increased the value of their home with the improvements.

The ability to turn a current home into a dream home is very attractive with the equity cash release deal, but there is more to the remortgaging opportunity. With low interest rates, a homeowner could discover a substantial monthly savings. Some homeowners have saved more than £200 per month with a remortgage according to recent reports.

Whether staying put or moving home, the shift due to the pandemic has been helped by the low interest rates in remortgages and mortgages. Currently lenders are competitive, but that could change if the housing market slows with the ending of the stamp duty holiday. Rates might not be increased due to a decision by the Bank of England, but lenders could choose to start pulling their cheapest deals. That is why experts believe that those considering to remortgage should shop around sooner rather than later to be able to take advantage of the current deals.