Whilst remortgage lending in still up 8% from this time last year it suffered a substantial fall of 14.8% from July to August taking the total to £3.2bn.
According to the latest figures from LMS remortgaging now accounts for 20% of the overall market with total gross mortgage lending holding steady at £16.6bn.
The typical amount of equity taken out by those remortgaging is £20,070, this implies a total amount of equity withdrawn in August to be £435.2m.
This figure was up drastically from August 2012 when customers withdrew a total of £408.1m.
LMS estimates that the total number of remortgage loans in August decreased by 19.7% to 21,682, compared with 27,000 in July.
Andy Knee, Chief Executive of LMS said: “Although remortgage lending has experienced a noticeable knock in August there is no need to be despondent as the figures compare favourably year-on-year.
“We all knew that recovery following the downturn in 2008 was going to be a long and bumpy road, so when presented with a fall such as this, it is always best to take a step back and consider them in terms of the bigger picture.
“It would appear that the entire market has reached a plateau in August, with the CML reporting that gross mortgage lending has held steady at £16.6bn.
“The remortgage market’s contraction means that remortgages only represented a fifth of the market in August, but we will no doubt see further reshuffles in the months to come.”
