Remortgage instructions decreased by 29% in December, the LMS monthly remortgage snapshot has revealed.
Completions decreased by 4%, while cancellations dropped by 17%.
In addition, pipeline cases fell by 7%, showing some ongoing activity in the market.
Remortgaging figures revealed that 43% of borrowers increased their loan size, 36% saw no change, and 21% reduced their total loan size after remortgaging.
The average loan increase was £21,589, while the average decrease was £12,419.
Monthly repayments also shifted, with 59% of borrowers reporting an increase in their remortgage repayments and 30% seeing a decrease.
The average increase in monthly repayments was £281.90, while the average decrease was £290.02.
The average remortgage loan amount was £210,992, a 2% increase from November.
In London, the average remortgage loan amount was £364,213, which was 106% higher than the rest of the UK, where the average stood at £176,776.
The average length of previous mortgages was reported at 68.16 months, a decrease of 10%.
Wales had the longest previous mortgage length at 74.76 months, while the East Midlands reported the shortest at 63.18 months.
Nick Chadbourne (pictured), CEO of LMS, said: “All signs have been positive through the back end of 2024; the home-mover market has been buoyant, and remortgages bounced back towards the end of the year.
“However, has the new government stifled this positive outlook with their fiscal policies? Due to the changes with employer National Insurance (NI) and reversal of stamp duty, are we in store for another year of turmoil for the housing market?
Chadbourne added: “This time last year, financial markets factored in six cuts to base rates – we only saw two, and even up to just a few weeks ago, the expectation was three in 2025.
“At the time of writing, there’s concern over stagflation in the UK, and many experts are now only pricing in one rate cut this year.
“I remain positive though; whilst economic policy is mostly inflationary, we still have the base rate above inflation, and if history is a guide, this means we are in line for cuts.
“So, the beginning of 2025 isn’t completely devoid of hope, with the 1.9m coming off fixed rates promising good deals to jump onto.”
