Remortgage approvals reach pre-pandemic level

Although this figure remains below the 12-month average up to February 2020 (49,500), it is the highest since February 2020 (52,300) as a standalone month.

The statistics also show that net mortgage borrowing by individuals increased by 47.5% in January 2022, rising to £5.9bn from £4bn in December.

The pre-pandemic average was £4.3bn in the 12 months up to February 2020.

It marks the highest mortgage approval level since September 2021 (£9.4bn). Gross lending increased to £23.8bn, from £22bn in December, an increase of eight percent.

House purchase approvals reached 74,000 in January, which is higher than the 12-month average up to 66,700 in February 2020. It is the highest since July 2021 (75,900).

Gareth Lewis, commercial director at lender MT Finance, said: “January is generally expected to be one of the quieter months for the housing market and yet this year, that hasn’t been the case.

"It will be interesting to see what happens over the coming couple of months with regard to purchase transactions. We are likely to see a further increase in base rate and with the bigger lenders starting to raise their mortgage rates, borrowing costs are set to edge up across the board”.

Dave Harris, chief executive at later-in-life specialist lender more2life, said: “Today’s findings are a welcome confirmation that mortgage market activity remains robust in spite of wider economic concerns. Activity is levelling out from the volatility we saw last year and returning to strong and stable pre-pandemic levels”.