Nearly 45% of brokers who responded to the latest Mortgage Solutions poll, said that a rise in rates would increase remortgage applications by 10%.
A further 24% said remortgage applications would increase by 50% or more, while 14% said applications would rise by 100% or more.
Only 18% said a potential base rate hike would have no impact on their business.
David Hollingworth, head of communications at London & Country, said: “The speculation over base rates has already led to a surge in interest for re-mortgaging, so once base rate does rise it will definitely spark a huge burst of activity.”
He added: “I think that as soon as a base rate hike is announced, we will see an initial significant rise in remortgaging but then it will start to settle a bit. I expect remortgage applications to rise by 15-20% during that period.”
Andy Sewell, managing director of brokerage OFM Group, said: “The British Chambers of Commerce has already predicted that interest rates could rise as soon as May, and if this is the case it will increase the levels of remortgage business being written by intermediaries.
“I think that once base rates move up we will see big peaks and troughs in remortgage activity throughout the year. I predict remortgage applications to increase by around 20-30%.”
