According to Twenty7tec, there were 885,774 remortgage searches in July compared with 938,060 purchase searches. This meant the ratio of remortgage searches was at 94% compared to purchases, up from 75.4% during the same period last year.
Twenty7tec said this indicated that, due to the higher costs of moving and people getting onto the property ladder later in life, people were choosing to refinance instead of buying a new home.
This was also a significant shift from 2021, when the ratio of remortgage searches to purchases was 56%.
So far this year, 5.96 million remortgage searches have been completed, putting 2025 on track to be the busiest year for refinancing in recent history.
Nathan Reilly, director at Twenty7tec, said: “Rising costs, rate uncertainty and stretched affordability are all reshaping homeowner behaviour – and the data shows it. Homeowners are increasingly choosing to stay put and refinance rather than take on the financial and logistical challenges of moving.
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“Many are opting to reinvest in their current property instead. Higher mortgage rates have also made upsizing harder, particularly for those who locked in ultra-low deals just a few years ago.”
“On top of that, with many buyers getting onto the property ladder later in life, their focus is often on securing rate certainty, reducing monthly payments, or releasing equity – not moving up the ladder at speed.”
Remortgage market ‘on the up’
Twenty7tec’s data showed that July 2025 saw the smallest ever gap between purchase and remortgage searches, at just 52,000 cases apart.
Further, remortgage searches were up 290,000 on 2021 levels with five months of this year still to go.
Reilly added: “The remortgage market is on the up, and advisers need to take note. They need to be maximising opportunities by speaking to their clients much earlier in the mortgage cycle, utilising their CRM systems to their full potential, not just building on client relationships but supercharging them.
“For lenders, making product switching quick and frictionless is vital – and that means working closely with advisers to ensure the right data flows seamlessly. In a market where more people are staying put, the winners will be those who use data intelligently to keep the customers they’ve already won.”
