Remortgage is maintaining its top spot within the UK housing market as many other sectors continue to trudge up the recovery hill and rebound. The Brexit vote of last June challenged some sectors within the market and made normal activity levels quite difficult to uphold. Many experts still describe the market future as uncertain and struggle to make accurate forecasts. This is all happening just days before Article 50 will possibly be triggered.

Remortgage activity is running strong during the first couple months of 2017. In January, the sector posted strong numbers which surprised many economists. Growth was not expected at the level of the final tally. Many house owners remain committed to remortgaging their home and are taking the necessary steps to obtain a new mortgage. Fortunately, that process has been streamlined and can now be completed and approved in just days.

Jonathan Sealey, CEO at Hope Capital, commented on the latest figures for the first month of the year, saying: “The confirmed figures for January are lower than at first expected.  Remortgages are the only real area of growth in the market with first-time-buyer activity, buoyant at the end of 2016, dropping right off. As the government gets closer to triggering Article 50 there will of course be many that want to sit tight to see how the land lies. In these situations there are always those that will move to take advantage of a quieter market, so it will be very interesting to see where movement is felt in the next couple of months.”

Sealey added: “Affordability is an issue as inflation and continually rising house prices outstrip real wage growth. This is putting more pressure on buyers’ ability to raise adequate deposits.  How lenders respond to this will be key.”