Wise expats are looking to the future

Data released today for October revealed expat re-mortgages were up by 8% while refinancing with additional borrowing increased by 5.9%.

The spike in expat re-mortgaging has been attributed the uncertainty of Brexit.

Brexit

It is not surprising that re-mortgaging numbers have slightly increased, pressing home the message that expats simply want or have stability in uncertain market conditions generated by the Election and Brexit.

Many of these borrowers have released further cash in order to carry out home improvements or extensions, enabling them to gain extra space.

Competition

Others thought the rise was also attributable to strong competition between lenders who were keen to attract business. Re-mortgaging is also consistent with borrowers opting for cheap fixed rates in the main.

Lenders are keen to lend and hardly a day goes by without another cutting its rates to attract business.

Strong expat mortgage figures are mainly down to the re-mortgage market, with competition between lenders aiming to attract as much business as possible underpinning performance.

Expat buy-to-let

The data also provided further evidence of the challenges facing the buy-to-let market, with this area of lending being the only sector in which figures fell during October.

UK Finance revealed 3.5% fewer buy-to-let home purchases took place during October compared to the same month in 2018 and re-mortgage rates remained at the same level.

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