THE number of people remortgaging rose to a 26-month high during February as homeowners braced themselves for higher interest rates, figures revealed today.
Around 35,725 loans were approved for people switching to a new deal during the month, the highest level since December 2008, according to the Bank of England.
The increase is likely to have been driven by expectations that the Bank of England will increase the base rate from its current record low of 0.5% sooner than previously thought due to high inflation.
The speculation has prompted people who had been sitting on their lenders’ standard variable rate to remortgage before rates start to rise.
But despite the increase, remortgage levels are still running at well below the more than 100,000 approvals a month that were seen before the credit crunch struck.
