Remortgage activity rises in Q3 as mortgage rates climb
Borrowers rushed to remortgage in Q3 as mortgage rates turned volatile once again, with strong search activity and new instructions seen in September.
More than 1.9 million mortgage searches were carried out by intermediaries during September, up 23% from August and 15% compared with the same month last year, data from Twenty7tec revealed.
Of these, 861,000 were for residential remortgage products, representing a rise of 40% compared to August and 44% year-on-year.
Residential purchase searches reached 617,709 in September, increasing 8% from August but just 1% year-on-year. First-time buyer searches rose 3% month-on-month to 138,791 but remained 4% below September last year.
Growth in remortgage conveyancing instructions also rose in September, outpacing sales and purchases.
Conveyancing distributor Conveybuddy recorded a 61% month-on-month increase in instructions for its All-Inclusive Remortgage product, a fixed-price legal service, during September compared to August, with activity returning to within 11% of the exceptional levels recorded in March.
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Overall, remortgage instructions increased by 19% during Q3 compared to Q2, while sale and purchase instructions increased by 8% over the same period.
Analysis by Moneyfacts revealed that the number of sub-5% fixed mortgage deals fell by 99%, from 1,494 since the start of September 2026 to nine by 5 October, as the biggest high street lenders made repeated fixed rate increases.
Meanwhile, average fixed mortgage rates have reached their highest levels in three years. Two-year fixed rates have risen to an average of 5.98%, the highest point since mid-December 2023, while the average five-year fixed rate has increased to 6%, its highest point since late September 2023.
Nathan Reilly, chief customer officer at Twenty7tec, said: “Remortgaging is doing a huge amount of the work. When we see growth on that scale, it tells us that existing homeowners reviewing their borrowing are becoming an increasingly important part of adviser workloads.”
