Advised product transfers up eight per cent in Q1

The total value of these loans switched with advice was £22.7bn, up 15.3 per cent from the same period last year, according to UK Finance.

Overall, 290,000 homeowners switched product with their existing provider in the first quarter of 2019, a decrease of 1.7 per cent year-on-year.

By value, £39.2bn of mortgage debt was refinanced internally, an increase of 2.1 per cent year-on-year.

In contrast, 128,900 product transfers were conducted on an execution-only basis, a decrease of 12.1 per cent year-on-year. These valued £16.5bn, down 11.8 per cent on the first quarter of 2018.

UK Finance noted the product transfer market tends to move in line with the external remortgaging market, but this will vary depending on individual lenders and brokers’ retention strategies.

Outpacing remortgaging

The trend from last year continued, when comparing product transfers to remortgaging – with switching proving vastly more popular.

UK Finance data for the first three months of 2019 recorded a total of 116,030 remortgages, worth £20.7bn, completed either as pound-for-pound remortgages or taking out further equity.

Almost 1.2 million people took a product transfer with their existing lender in 2018 worth £158.7bn of lending activity, both around double that of remortgages.