Lots of people not remortgaging, says AMI

Date:Friday 2nd October 2009
Author: Max Freedman

Many consumers are not considering remortgaging at the moment, it has been asserted.

Robert Sinclair, director of the Association of Mortgage Intermediaries (AMI), made his comments after the Council of Mortgage Lenders issued research indicating that total gross lending stood at £14.5 billion in July.

Mr Sinclair explained that many people are currently on a "default rate", which means that they have moved from a fixed-rate deal to one with a variable rate.

He stated that the variable-rate products are linked to the base rate of interest - which currently stands at 0.5 per cent - and therefore offer better deals than some fixed-rate deals that are currently available.

"A lot of people aren't remortgaging at the moment. Therefore there is more volume being driven through the purchase market than the remortgage market," the AMI representative concluded.

The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee is set to take its next decision about whether to lower, raise or maintain the base rate of interest on October 8th.