Mortgage lending figures for the month of May are now surfacing and indicate original home loans to home buyers fell short of the amount of lending by those obtaining remortgage. Home buyers increased lending year on year almost 9%. The total amount of mortgage lending by quantity during the month of May totaled £22.2bn. The amount of total lending was however down month on month almost 4%. Remortgage activity as expected was strong in the month of May.

Remortgage increased year on year a total of 18% which is indicative of what many housing experts have been forecasting for months. The increase of home owners to seek remortgage is due mainly to a number of housing mortgage deals maturing. Another catalyst which has helped increase the amount of remortgage is the constant possibility of an increase to interest rates. Rates currently reside at historic lows and are expected to remain there for the remainder of the month.

There are some who believe an interest rate hike will take place in August, but that remains to be seen. The inflation rate is currently sitting above 2%. The Bank of England goal is 2%. Increasing the interest rate is part of the defense against increasing inflation. When money becomes more expensive to loan inflation starts to fall.

A recent household survey indicated homeowners are feeling more optimistic than in recent months. This is expected to lead to a strong month of mortgage lending during the month of May. Remortgage has been forecasted to remain strong through the rest of the year with the possibility of interest rate rises always looming in the background.