But remortgaging activity remains weak as the Base Rate remains at historically-low levels, meaning there is little incentive for borrowers to move away from their lender's standard variable rate.
Although there has been a pick-up in house purchase activity since the start of the year, the number of transactions remains way below pre-credit crunch levels and is uunlikely to rise much further given lending constraints.First-time buyers are still struggling to get on the housing ladder as substantial deposits remain the order of the day.
But there is some good news as the wholesale markets have begun to thaw with some of the UK's highly-rated institutions able to issue structured finance products backed by mortgages in recent weeks.