The latest research by LMS shows a rise of 4% in borrowers who re-mortgaged seeking to increase the size of their mortgage by more than £10,000 in May.

Almost a third (31%) of re-mortgagors increased the size of their loan, with nearly one in four (24%) increasing their loan amount by as much as £10,000 (over 8% more than their original mortgage of £124,000). This is an increase of 4% from April and suggests that as summer approaches, households are feeling the pinch and looking for additional ways to free up extra funds or reduce other debts.

This was accompanied by a fall in customers re-mortgaging for other reasons; for example, the number of customers re-mortgaging their properties in May in order to access lower interest rates fell to 62%, down from 65% during the previous month.

More than one in three (34%) of those who re-mortgaged did so to reduce their monthly payments by up to £500, also in a bid to access extra cash. However, this was down from 37% last month, and 38% from March.

In terms of the reasons for re-mortgaging, 23% used the money to fund home improvements, and almost one in ten (8%) used the money to pay off other debts. Just a small number of homeowners said they planned to use the money to fulfil their children’s ambitions of owning their own home (2%).