There were more than 1.9 million mortgage searches recorded as remortgaging drives a sharp post-summer increase in adviser activity, Twenty7tec data reveals.

The latest data recorded 1,912,458 mortgage searches during September, up 23% from August and 15% compared with the same month last year.

Residential activity increased 22% month on month and 19% year on year.

Meanwhile, Twenty7tec recorded 860,951 residential remortgage searches during September, an increase of 40% in a single month and 44% year on year.

Twenty7tec says the surge is due to borrowers facing renewed uncertainty over mortgage pricing.

The Bank of England held the Bank Rate at 3.75% in September, but three members of the Monetary Policy Committee voted for an increase.

The bank also reported that quoted two-year fixed mortgage rates were around 95 basis points higher than before the recent energy shock.

Major lenders subsequently increased fixed mortgage pricing during September, with some rates rising by as much as 0.3 percentage points.

Elsewhere, residential purchase searches reached 617,709 in September, increasing 8% from August but just 1% year on year.

First-time buyer searches rose 3% month on month to 138,791 but remained 4% below September last year.

Buy-to-let (BTL) also recorded a substantial month-on-month increase during September.

Overall BTL searches rose 27% to 295,007, while BTL remortgage searches increased 34%.

However, the annual picture remained divided. Overall BTL activity was 4% lower than September last year and BTL purchase searches remained 21% down year on year. BTL remortgage searches, by comparison, were 4% higher.

Also reporting a surge in remortgage activity was Conveybuddy.

The conveyancing distributor found a strong return for remortgage activity alongside continued quarter-on-quarter growth in sale and purchase transactions.

The latest figures show remortgage instructions increased by 19% during Q3 compared to Q2, while sale and purchase instructions also increased by 8% over the same period.

Overall, the combined number of sale/purchase and remortgage instructions increased by 12% quarter-on-quarter, while survey instructions also recorded further growth during the three-month period, increasing by 13% compared to Q2.

conveybuddy said the Q3 figures represented a shift from the previous quarter, when the distributor reported remortgage activity had returned to more normal levels following the significant spike seen in March this year, while sale and purchase transactions had continued to strengthen.

During the third quarter, remortgage activity increased significantly again, with September proving particularly strong as borrowers and advisers responded to a further period of mortgage product withdrawals and pricing changes.

Meanwhile, data shows a 61% month-on-month increase in instructions for its All-Inclusive Remortgage product during September compared to August, with activity returning to within 11% of the exceptional levels recorded in March.

Across Q3 as a whole, All-Inclusive Remortgage instructions increased by 22% compared to Q2 and finished the quarter just 4% below the total recorded during Q1, which included the March spike.