Remortgage activity rising

Conveyancing Alliance, the online conveyancing distributor, has revealed an increase in its month-on-month remortgage activity in November.

The firm has seen a significant increase in purchase instructions throughout the second half of 2009; however, it has now witnessed an upturn in remortgage activity.  The number of remortgage instructions increased by 28 per cent from October to November. 

While Conveyancing Alliance expects December to be slightly down on November due to the Christmas and New Year breaks, its weekly run rate for the first two weeks is the same as it was for the corresponding weeks in November.

Purchase activity continues to dominate however with the conveyancing distributor showing a marked improvement with this type of instruction up 45 per cent between October and November.

The firm believes the increase in remortgaging is a healthy sign for the overall mortgage marketplace, and suggests that the second half of 2010 will deliver a considerably healthier remortgage market.

To capitalise on both the purchase and remortgage business increase, and to also allow larger adviser firms more control over the conveyancing instructions of their sales force, Conveyancing Alliance is now actively creating bespoke white-label solutions for individual businesses.

Harpal Singh, Managing Director of Conveyancing Alliance Ltd, commented: “Given the way the market has gone in 2009 it is perhaps no surprise to see our purchase instructions continuing to dominate overall business levels.  What is particularly exciting is that our remortgage activity has shown a significant increase between October and November.  We should point out that this is from a low level and that we should not take every month in isolation, however, this is an encouraging sign and is perhaps evidence of a more competitive remortgage market with higher LTVs on offer and better pricing on those products.  For most of 2009, the remortgage market has been a dead duck, however, we suspect it will show continued signs of recovery into next year, particularly picking up in the second half when many borrowers will be coming off deals they signed up to in the second half of 2008 which do not have particularly attractive reversion rates.  It would be in the best interests of advisers to contact those clients who will be coming off their special rates throughout 2010 to ensure they are in the best position to offer the most competitive and suitable remortgage products available from a hopefully ever-improving marketplace.”

For more information on Conveyancing Alliance, visit movewithcal.co.uk.