The FCA and the Prudential Regulatory Authority (PRA) both have responsibility for the regulation of mortgage lenders and administrators. We jointly publish the mortgage lending statistics every quarter.
Since the beginning of 2007, around 340 regulated mortgage lenders and administrators have been required to submit a Mortgage Lending and Administration Return (MLAR) each quarter, providing data on their mortgage lending activities.
Key findings
- The outstanding value of all residential mortgage loans was £1,541.4 billion at the end of 2020 Q4, 2.9% higher than a year earlier (Table A).
- The value of gross mortgage advances in 2020 Q4 was £76.6 billion, 4.2% higher than in 2019 Q4 (Table A and Chart 1).
- The value of new mortgage commitments (lending agreed to be advanced in the coming months) was 24.2% higher than a year earlier, at £87.7 billion, and the highest level since 2007 Q3 (Table A and Chart 1).
- The share of gross advances with interest rates less than 2% above Bank Rate was 64.8% in 2020 Q4, 20.5 percentage points (pp) lower than a year ago (Chart 2).
- The share of mortgages advanced in 2020 Q4 with loan to value (LTV) ratios exceeding 90% was 1.2%, 4.5pp lower than a year earlier and the lowest level since these statistics began in 2007 (Chart 3).
- The share for house purchase for owner occupation was 63.9%, up 11.8pp from 2019 Q4. The share of gross advances for remortgages for owner occupation was 18.5%, a decrease of 10.7pp since 2019 Q4 (Chart 5).
- The value of outstanding balances with some arrears increased by 3.4% over the quarter to £14.3 billion, and now accounts for 0.93% of outstanding mortgage balances (Chart 6).
Download the data from the charts below - MLAR statistics: detailed tables (Excel)
Chart tips: hover over data series to view the data values and filter the data categories by clicking on the legend.
Table A: Residential loans to individuals flows and balances
Regulated and non-regulated mortgages* - £ billions - Not seasonally adjusted
|
|
Q3 |
Q4 |
Q1 |
Q2 |
Q3 |
Q4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
2019 |
|
2020 |
|
|
|
|
Business flows |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Gross advances |
73.3 |
73.5 |
65.8 |
44.2 |
62.5 |
76.6 |
|
New commitments |
73.8 |
70.6 |
67.3 |
34.4 |
78.9 |
87.7 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Residential loan amounts outstanding |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total Regulated and Non-regulated |
1,484.9 |
1,498.5 |
1,509.3 |
1,516.4 |
1,527.7 |
1,541.4 |
*This data covers regulated mortgage lending, and non-regulated mortgage lending by firms which undertake regulated mortgage lending or administration of regulated mortgages.
Chart
Data table
The value of gross mortgage advances was £76.6 billion in 2020 Q4, 4.2% higher than in 2019 Q4 (Table A and Chart 1). However gross lending for 2020 in total was £249 billion, which was down 9.8% compared to 2019 (£276 billion).
The value of new mortgage commitments (lending agreed to be advanced in the coming months) was 24.2% higher than a year earlier, at £87.7 billion, and the highest level since 2007 Q3. However new lending commitments for 2020 in total was £268 billion, down 4.7% on 2019 (£282 billion).
Chart
Data table
The share of advances with interest rates less than 2% above Bank Rate was 64.8%, 9.4pp lower than last quarter and 20.5pp lower than a year ago. (Chart 2).
The share of advances with interest rates between 2% and 3% above Bank Rate increased over the quarter to 27.8% from 20.3%, and the share of advances with interest rates 3% or more above Bank Rate increased by 1.9pp to 7.4% from 2020 Q3.
Chart
Data table
The share of advances with LTV ratios exceeding 90% decreased on the quarter, by 2.3pp, to 1.2%. This is 4.5pp lower than a year earlier and the lowest level since 2007 (Chart 3).
The share of mortgages advanced in Q4 with loan to value (LTV) ratios exceeding 75% increased on the quarter to 40.0%, broadly unchanged from a year earlier.
The share of mortgages advanced with LTVs over 95% was 0.2%, broadly unchanged over recent quarters.
Chart
Data table
The proportion of lending to borrowers with a high loan to income (LTI) ratio increased by 2.0pp on the quarter to 50.2%, the highest since 2007 Q1 when the series began (Chart 4). Borrowers with high LTI are defined here as:
- Borrowers with single income who had a LTI ratio of 4 or above. These loans accounted for 11.3% of gross mortgage lending in Q4 2020, unchanged from the previous quarter.
- Borrowers with a joint income who had a LTI of 3 or above. These loans accounted for 38.9% of gross mortgage lending in Q4 2020, a 2.0pp increase compared to the previous quarter.
Chart
Data table
The share of gross mortgage advances for buy-to-let purposes (covering house purchase, remortgage and further advance) was 11.2% in 2020 Q4, a fall of 1.2pp from 2019 Q4 (Chart 5). The share of advances to owner occupiers was 88.8%.
Of the 88.8% of advances for owner occupiers, the share for remortgages was 18.5%, a decrease of 10.7pp since 2019 Q4 and the lowest level since 2007. The share for house purchase was 63.9%, up 11.8pp from 2019 Q4 . Further advances and other mortgages (including lifetime mortgages) accounted for 6.5% of gross advances combined.
Of the 63.9% of advances for house purchases by owner occupiers, lending to first-time buyers was 2.9pp higher than in 2019 Q4, at 24.3% of gross advances. The share advanced to home movers increased by 8.9pp on a year earlier, to 39.6%, the highest share for home movers since 2010 Q3.
Chart
Data table
The value of outstanding balances with arrears (defined as the borrower failing to make contractual payments equivalent to at least 1.5% of the outstanding mortgage balance or where the property is in possession) increased by 3.4% on the quarter, to £14.3 billion (Chart 6).
The proportion of total loan balances with arrears increased on the quarter to from 0.91% to 0.93%.
Copyright
The data on this page is available under the terms of the Open Government Licence.