Mojo: Coronavirus fears creating a mortgage refinancing boom

Remortgaging has become the UK's biggest financial concern following a series of rate cuts during the coronavirus outbreak, according to Mojo Mortgages.

Mojo Mortgages have reported an 100% rise in remortgage applications in the past two weeks, and claim that there has been an upwards trend in Brits rushing to sort out their remortgage following the introduction of the UK's lowest ever base rate.

The online broker have seen a 60% rise in online searches for the term 'remortgage' as more customers look for the best deals.

Richard Hayes, chief executive and co-founder of Mojo Mortgages, said: “The coronavirus crisis has disrupted the housing market, undoubtably.

"We’ve only just come out of a period of economic uncertainty with Brexit, and this pandemic has fuelled a level of uncertainty again.

“Obviously, health concerns are the immediate focus, but we’ve already seen the huge economic impact the virus can have, and people want to take steps to protect themselves, so cutting their biggest monthly outgoing, which is their mortgage repayment, makes financial sense and this is the key reason for why we’ve seen this increase at Mojo.”

According to recent figures from consultancy firm CACI, the value of mortgages due to mature this April will account for 11% of the £184bn of mortgage maturities in 2020.

The biggest month for remortgages is December when £25.6bn worth of mortgages are slated to mature.

Read next: Learn all you need to know about remortgaging your home

April’s mortgage maturities are worth 52% more than the average monthly maturity value this year across the other 10 months, excluding April and December, of £13.8bn.

Both April and December’s value of maturities are significantly higher than last year; an increase of 14% and 70% respectively.

Households with mortgages that mature in April will have an average outstanding balance of £149,736 with 19 years left remaining on their term.