Mortgage market activity shifted notably in July, as borrowers increasingly turned their attention to locking in new deals. Fresh figures from adviser tech firm Twenty7tec show that remortgage searches rose by 7% compared with the previous month, a sign that homeowners are actively hunting for better rates and lower monthly payments. The overall mortgage search volume reached 1,790,196 during the month, a 1% increase on June, even as the traditional summer slowdown began to bite.
Purchase and buy-to-let searches, by contrast, eased back. The data suggests that while first-time buyers and landlords are stepping away from the market, existing homeowners are being squeezed by affordability pressures and are therefore more motivated to remortgage before their current fixed terms expire. The spike in remortgage activity reflects a broader anxiety about the cost of living and the direction of interest rates, with many borrowers hoping to pin down a manageable repayment plan before conditions tighten further.
Where affordability bites least
| District | Post town | Region | Average price |
|---|---|---|---|
| SR1 | Sunderland | North East | £69,939 |
| DL4 | Shildon | North East | £79,214 |
| TS1 | Middlesbrough | North East | £80,533 |
| TS3 | Middlesbrough | North East | £82,642 |
| DN31 | Grimsby | Yorkshire and The Humber | £82,845 |
| HU2 | Hull | Yorkshire and The Humber | £86,318 |
| SR8 | Peterlee | North East | £89,506 |
| CF43 | Ferndale | Wales | £90,459 |
| BD1 | Bradford | Yorkshire and The Humber | £93,903 |
| DL17 | Ferryhill | North East | £98,478 |
For those remortgaging to escape unaffordable rises, location matters enormously. Our analysis of HM Land Registry price paid data shows that the cheapest postcode district in the country is SR1, covering central Sunderland. The average property price here is just £69,939, a figure that stands in stark contrast to the national average and offers a sliver of hope for borrowers with limited equity or squeezed budgets.
When a household remortgages, the loan-to-value ratio is critical. A lower property value can be a double-edged sword: it reduces the sise of the loan needed but also limits the equity available to secure a competitive rate. However, in a district like SR1, where prices are so far below the UK norm, even a modest deposit can push a borrower into a much lower loan-to-value band, potentially significantly better remortgage deals. This is precisely the kind of arithmetic that drives the surge in remortgage searches: borrowers are running the numbers and realising that moving their mortgage to a cheaper postcode could slash hundreds of pounds from their monthly outgoings.
The data behind this
The property price averages used in this analysis come from the HM Land Registry Price Paid Data, which records every residential transaction in England and Wales. The local demographic and housing-stock context is drawn from the Office for National Statistics 2021 Census, and the postcode district boundaries and mapping are powered by the Postcodes UK database. Together, these sources provide a reliable picture of where genuine affordability can be found for homeowners looking to remortgage under today's financial pressures.
In response to reporting by Mortgage Strategy. Analysis and figures by Postcodes UK.