Remortgaging reached its highest level for 10 years in London in 2018

Remortgaging in London reached its highest level in a decade in 2018 with the number of first time buyers rising substantially in the final quarter of the year, industry figures show.

Indeed, there were 11,000 new first time buyer mortgages completed in London in the fourth quarter of 2018, some 5.8% more than in the same quarter of 2017, according to the data from UK Finance.

The £3.2 billion of new lending was 7.4% more year on year and in 2018 overall there were 42,800 new first time buyer mortgages, 0.5% more than in 2017. The £12.6 billion of new lending was 2.6% higher than in 2017.

The data also shows that there were 7,400 new home mover mortgages completed in London in the fourth quarter of 2018, some 1.3% fewer than in the same quarter of 2017. The £3.1 billion of new lending in the quarter was 3.3% up year on year.

In 2018 as a whole there were 28,800 new home mover mortgages in the city, down 5% compared with 2017 and the £12 billion of new lending was 1.9% less than in 2017.

There were 15,000 new home owner remortgages in London completed in the fourth quarter, 2.7% more than in the same quarter a year earlier. The £4.6 billion of remortgaging in the fourth quarter was 1.8% more year on year.

While in the whole of 2018, there were a total of 60,400 new home owner remortgages, 6.2% more than in 2017. This is the highest annual number of remortgages in London since 2008 when this figure stood at 111,900. The £18.8 billion of remortgaging in the year was 8.3% more than in 2017.

‘Remortgaging in London reached its highest level in a decade last year, as customers locked into competitive deals and a large number of fixed rate loans came to an end,’ said Jackie Bennett, director of mortgages at UK Finance.

‘First time buyer numbers increased for the third year running in 2018, despite a sluggish first quarter. However, affordability remains a challenge for many potential buyers in the capital, underlining the importance of schemes such as Help to Buy,’ she added.