The latest figures from the Alliance & Leicester movingimproving index show that 1 in 6 homeowners plan to change their mortgage deal in the next 12 months with almost two-thirds searching for a more competitive deal.
The findings reveal that 16 per cent of borrowers are looking to arrange a new mortgage deal during the next 12 months, with 6 per cent definitely looking to change their mortgage and a further 10 per cent considering the idea.
Paul Cooper, head of mortgages at Alliance & Leicester, said: “It is encouraging to see that people are shopping around for mortgage deals. The findings indicate that people are becoming more empowered by the wealth of information available on mortgages.”
“Homeowners shouldn’t change their mortgage for the sake of it as there can be costs involved,” he warned.
Linda Will, managing director of Accord Mortgages, explained that despite the slow-down in housing transactions Accord was still generating the necessary volumes of business.
She said: “We are keeping a close eye on the remortgage market and may have to review our strategy about stepping further into the market. There are a great number of people with fixed rates as low as 3.22 per cent coming off schemes in 2005; this rate shock will help to stimulate the remortgage market.”
Matt Gilmour, chief executive of Infinity Mortgages, said: “With the buy-to-let and remortgage areas performing strongly, the intermediary market is still a robust, ripe market.”
