The volume of remortgage applications in Q1 surged by 45.8%, new analysis from Stonebridge has shown, prompting overall mortgage activity to jump by a quarter (24.6%).

The mortgage and protection network reported that rafts of borrowers continued to come off ultra-low pandemic era mortgage products from 2021 in the opening quarter of 2026.

Five years ago in March 2021, effective interest rates on new mortgage borrowing fell to just 1.85%. Stonebridge suggested that remortgaging activity will also remain strong throughout the year, after UK Finance reported in December that 1.6 million fixed rate mortgages expired in 2025, with a further 1.8 million due to end this year.

Stonebridge, reporting its quarterly Mortgage Market Index for Q1, revealed that mortgage applications for purchase dipped 3.6% annually in the quarter. Meanwhile, the share of variable rate mortgages climbed from 4.7% to 5.5% year-on-year, with fixed rate deals remaining by far the most popular at 94.5% of the market.

The mortgage network also reported that mortgage terms of two years have been increasing in popularity. Their share rose by a quarter from 51.6% of all home loans to 65.2%. By comparison, the share of five-year mortgages fell from 39.4% to 29%.

Chief executive at Stonebridge, Rob Clifford, said: “We know many borrowers locked into attractive five-year rates during the pandemic. Now that so many of those consumers are reaching the end of the deals they grabbed at that time, we are naturally seeing huge demand for advice on refinancing options.

“That will continue throughout this year, with plenty of lenders dynamically pricing both product transfers and remortgage deals to win market share.

“We’re likely to see a reversal in rate volatility in the second half of the year and the popularity of variable or tracker rates might increase. If the energy crisis is short lived, a variable product would allow borrowers to capitalise on a falling base rate once the conflict subsides but this is a time when impartial and expert mortgage advice is worth its weight in gold.”

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