Bank of England Mortgage Lenders and Administrators Statistics showing increase in first time buyers
Mortgage Lenders and Administrators Statistics – 2024 Q4
The Mortgage Lenders and Administrators Return (MLAR) is a quarterly statistical release aggregated from data on mortgage lending activities provided by around 340 regulated mortgage lenders and administrators.
Key findings
- The outstanding value of all residential mortgage loans increased by 0.5% from the previous quarter to £1,678.2 billion, the highest stock of outstanding mortgage loans since reporting began in 2007, and was 1.3% higher than a year earlier
- The value of gross mortgage advances increased by 4.9% from the previous quarter to £68.8 billion, the highest new advances since 2022 Q4, and was 29.9% higher than a year earlier
- The value of new mortgage commitments (lending agreed to be advanced in the coming months) increased by 4.9% from the previous quarter to £69.3 billion, the highest since 2022 Q3, and was 50.7% higher than a year earlier
- The proportion of lending to borrowers with a high loan to income (LTI) ratio increased by 0.5 pp from the previous quarter to 45.8%, the highest since 2022 Q4, and was 3.1pp higher than a year earlier
- The share of gross mortgage advances for house purchase for owner occupation decreased by 0.8pp from the previous quarter to 63.7%, but was 3.9pp higher than a year earlier
- The share of gross advances for remortgages for owner occupation increased by 0.7pp from the previous quarter to 23.5%, but was 4.8pp lower than a year earlier
- The share of lending to first time buyers increased by 0.3pp from the previous quarter to 29.6%, the highest share since reporting began in 2007, and was 1.9pp higher than a year earlier
- New arrears cases (as a proportion of total outstanding balances with arrears) increased by 2.3pp from the previous quarter to 12.0%, but remained 1.5pp lower than a year earlier.
- The value of outstanding mortgage balances with arrears increased by 1.3% from the previous quarter to £22.1 billion, and was 8.4% 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%, and was 0.1pp higher than a year earlier.
Toby Leek, President of NAEA Propertymark, the professional body for estate agents, comments:
“The news that the number of first-time buyers is increasing is extremely positive. However, other data also suggests that the average person looking to step onto the ladder for the first time will likely find it increasingly difficult to do so in the future. With the average age of a first-time buyer increasing to around 33.5 years old and the amount of money needed to be put down as a deposit on a home continuing to rise to around £50,000, many people may find their home ownership aspirations difficult to achieve.
“To combat this, all governments need to implement support mechanisms to enable more people to buy their first home well into the future, as well as continue in their missions of building new homes for a growing population, as an undersupply of properties will push up house prices even further.”
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