Remortgaging activity has soared – driven by a long-term trend in people wanting to upgrade their existing homes rather than move.

Connells Survey & Valuation said that the number of valuations it undertook for remortgaging rose 25% in August compared with July, and by 102% since August last year.

John Bagshaw, corporate services director, said: “Concern and media attention about an interest rate rise in the near future is the key driver of this surge. Due to the very low Bank of England base rate, there are currently some very appealing remortgaging deals on offer from lenders.

“But home owners have been influenced by a powerful perception that these deals will not last.

“Underneath the short-term surge, remortgaging is also driven by a longer-term shift.

People are increasingly looking to upgrade their home rather than trade – and so, for a slightly different purpose, are also keen to take advantage of cheaper mortgage deals.”

The firm carried out just 1% more valuations for first-time buyers last month than in July, but this was nevertheless up 30% on August last year.

The number of valuations for home movers grew 3% on a monthly basis and 30% annually.

Buy-to-let valuations dropped 5% on July, but were still up by 29% on the year.

Bagshaw said the monthly slowdown was likely to be a result of some investors “taking a step back to calculate the cost of the Chancellor scrapping certain tax exemptions”.