House prices have gone up 13.2% this year, and hit an all-time high last month, but moving can be a major upheaval, on a level with divorce and death, goes the old adage.

New research from Norton Finance reveals more than 1 in 5 (23.9%) residential loans to individuals are for remortgaging purposes*. But this is the lowest it’s been since 2007.

Why aren’t more Brits are turning to their homes to free up capital? With a rise in interest rates likely, remortgaging could come back into vogue as a way to safeguard against unaffordable variable interest repayments.

Remortgaging calculates a loan based on the current value of your house, rather than what you may have bought it for, so when property prices are high, you may be able to borrow more than your original mortgage.

You’re on a variable rate and you’re worried about interest rates going up.
Your current mortgage is coming to an end.
You’d like to shorten or lengthen the term of your mortgage.
You want to borrow more money.
You just want to find a better deal.

Online calculators like this one from Norton Finance can give you a quick indication of how much you might be able to borrow.

Latest figures from ONS** show that house prices have boomed in the last year, but the increase is slowing down.

Norton Finance predicts the pandemic housing price rise bubble is about to burst: “What we’re seeing is a definite slowing of the recent house price boom thanks to factors like the stamp duty holiday coming to an end last month.”

“We anticipate that homeowners in the North East are more likely to take advantage of double digit annual property price rises by remortgaging. Prices in the region are up by 10.8% year on year but have fallen 3.5% in just one month.

In London, at the bottom on the annual property price increase table, prices have fallen 2% in the last month alone.”

Homeowners in the North West have seen the biggest monthly drop of 7.6%.