FCA publishes mortgage lending statistics for Q3 2024

The FCA has published mortgage lending statistics for Q3 2024. The data comes from firms carrying out mortgage lending and mortgage administration, who are required to submit the Mortgage Lending and Administration Return (MLAR) quarterly.

Key findings from the latest data are:

• The outstanding value of all residential mortgage loans increased by 0.6% from the previous quarter to £1,670.9 bn. This was the highest stock of outstanding mortgage loans since Q1 2023, and 0.8% higher than a year earlier.
• The value of gross mortgage advances increased by 8.9% from the previous quarter to £65.5 bn. This was the highest level of new advances since Q4 2022, and 6.7% higher than a year earlier.
• The value of new mortgage commitments (lending agreed to be advanced in the coming months) decreased by 1.3% from the previous quarter to £66 bn, but remained 34.2% higher than a year earlier.
• The share of gross mortgage advances with loan-to-value (LTV) ratios exceeding 90% increased by 0.6pp from the previous quarter to 6.6%. This was the highest share since Q2 2008, and 1.6pp higher than a year earlier.
• The share of gross mortgage advances for house purchase for owner occupation increased by 6.9pp from the previous quarter to 64.4%. This was the highest share since Q2 2021, and 6.1pp higher than a year earlier.
• The share of gross advances for remortgages for owner occupation decreased by 5.8pp from the previous quarter to 22.8%. This was 7.0pp lower than a year earlier.
• The share of gross mortgage advances for buy-to-let purposes (covering house purchase, remortgage and further advance) decreased by 1.1pp from the previous quarter to 7.9%, but remained 0.5pp higher than a year earlier.
• New arrears cases (as a proportion of total outstanding balances with arrears) decreased by 1.3pp from the previous quarter to 9.7%, and was 6.3pp lower than a year earlier.
• The value of outstanding mortgage balances with arrears decreased by 0.4% from the previous quarter to £21.9 billion, but remained 17.5% higher than a year earlier. The proportion of the total mortgage loan balances with arrears, relative to all outstanding mortgage balances, has stayed the same as the previous quarter at 1.3%, but remained 0.2pp higher than a year earlier.