The mortgage lending market is releasing reports of increased lending for the first quarter of the year over the last quarter of the year.  It is true that as far as remortgage lending is concerned there were more homeowners seeking to secure deals, but in the true picture there were many absent.  As far as remortgaging, there are millions that have stayed away from lenders or have been shunned away by them being unable to secure a remortgage due to a lack of equity or a lack of financial stability at the level needed to secure a loan.

Homeowners that have had their mortgage deal end with their current lender and have moved on to their variable rate are sitting on a possible financial problem.  There are many homeowners that are truly unaware of what a remortgage could do for them to offer security in the face of interest rate increases by the Bank of England.  With the warnings that once the rate does increase that it will be substantially higher than if it had occurred earlier, a homeowner could face a mortgage payment that goes quickly to the level of being unaffordable.

Numbers in remortgage lending are likely to have declined in April with there having been five fewer business days in the month due to the holidays and the Royal Wedding.  These diversions likely led to a postponement of many homeowners searching for a remortgage.  Only once May lending numbers come in will it be more apparent how many homeowners have heeded warnings that deals available now will likely disappear once an interest rate rise draws closer and especially once one occurs.

Council of Mortgage Lenders director general Michael Coogan remarked concerning lending, "We saw a significant increase in both house purchase and remortgage lending in March but, over the first quarter of the year as a whole, the picture was subdued and that is unlikely to change for the foreseeable future. It may take until publication of the second quarter's activity to get a full understanding of how the market has reacted to the squeeze on household incomes.”