Mortgage lenders advanced more money in the third quarter than they have in any other quarter for five years, according to figures released today by the FCA. Gross advances of £49.5bn were recorded in Q3 2013 – the highest total since Q3 2008 – up 25% on the £41.6bn advanced in the same period last year.
The value of residential loan amounts outstanding rose 0.3% between Q2 and Q3, reaching £1.2bn – a jump of 0.5% from the same time period last year. Net lending was up 29% year-on-year in the third quarter, from £5.1bn in Q3 2012 to £7.2bn in the third quarter of this year.
First-time buyers accounted for a fifth of gross advances in Q3, with a total of £9.9bn advanced, while buy-to-let customers borrowed a total of £5.9bn or 12% of gross advances. The figures show just 0.45% – £2.2bn – of gross lending was advanced to borrowers with a deposit of five per cent, compared with 0.41% in Q3 2012.
Capital Economics chief property economist Ed Stansfield says: ”Six months after the launch of Help to Buy, detailed mortgage lending statistics show little evidence of a rise in the share of new mortgages being advanced on the basis of a 5% deposit.”
The volume of new repossession cases in the third quarter of 2013 dropped 14% in a year to 7,349. New arrears cases also fell in both volume and value in the third quarter this year.
The number of new arrears cases dropped 7.9% to 29,900 – the lowest level since the FCA began recording figures in 2007. The value of new arrears cases fell 18% from Q3 2012 to £56m. The percentage of total loans outstanding currently in arrears dropped to 1.97% in the third quarter, compared with 2.06 in Q2.