TwentyFour Asset Management partner Ben Hayward highlighted last week’s announcement by Lloyds that the banking group had put aside over £6bn for lending to first-time buyers and said: “As new mortgage availability becomes easier borrowers will have the flexibility to move their mortgages, and with fixed rates starting to look as cheap and potentially cheaper than SVRs, combined with worries of rising rates, then we could start to see more borrowers move their mortgage more often.”
The prepayment rate, or reason borrowers pay off the loan before full term, could rise from today’s 15% to over 25% once more attractive refinancing options become available, he suggested.
The attractive products since the credit crunch mean life-changing events such as death, divorce and the need to change property size had replaced remortgaging as the main reason people paid off their loans earlier than the full-term end-date, he argued.
However, the combination of rising Standard Variable Rates and greater mortgage availability could change this situation, he said.
