The volume of remortgage completions rose by 108% in September, according to the LMS Monthly Remortgage Snapshot.

Instruction volumes also increased, rising by 50% over the same timeframe.

The overall cancellation rate rose by 0.43% to 5% and pipeline cases increased by 7% in last month.

The average monthly payment decrease for those who remortgaged in September was £235.

A total of 45% of borrowers increased their loan size and 50% of those who remortgaged took out a 5-year fixed rate product, which was the most popular product length.

An estimated 28% of remortgagers’ primary aim when remortgaging was to release equity from their property.

The average remortgage loan amount in London and the South East was £288,939, while the average for the rest of the UK stood at £148,978, putting remortgage loan amounts 48% higher in London and the South East than the rest of the UK.

The longest previous mortgage length was found in the North East at 75.88 months (6.32 years) and the shortest was in East Anglia at 59.92 months (4.99 years), putting the longest previous mortgage term 26.64% longer than the shortest.

Nick Chadbourne, chief executive of LMS, said: “Remortgage instructions rose by 50% in September as rumours of an interest rate rise loom large, which may impact the cost of mortgages.

“Savvy borrowers nearing the end of their current term, and their brokers, will have anticipated this and have begun to shop around to secure a longer fixed-rate deal to weather any increases in their monthly repayments.

“The number of remortgage completions soared to 108%, as September marked one of the highest numbers of ERC expiries of the year.

“As some lenders will be inundated with cases as a result of the current rate wars, panel managers will have an important role to play in mitigating any mismatch in capacity across the industry, by ensuring that instructions are evenly balanced between firms to maintain service levels.”