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Buy To Let

Mortgage lending jumps 10% as buy to let takes a hit

Lana Clements
Written By:
Lana Clements
Posted:
Updated:
13/03/2018

Mortgage lending hit £69.1bn in the final three months of 2017, a 10% increase from the same period a year earlier, according to quarterly Bank of England data.

Activity in the traditionally slower final quarter of the year, was 2.5% lower from the previous three months, the data showed.

At the same time, new commitments increased 5.2% annually to £64.9bn.

However, the market’s share of buy-to-let lending fell to 12.7% at the end of 2017 – the lowest percentage since 2013.

First-time buyer numbers leap

At the same time, first-time buyers’ share of mortgage lending increased to 21.1%.

The total value of outstanding residential lending stood at £1,395bn in Q4 2017.

The share of new lending in the highest loan to income (LTI) brackets increased overall compared to the previous quarter, the data showed.

However, the proportion of higher loan to value (LTV) mortgages fell, with new lending above 90% falling around 0.5 percentage points to 3.8%.

There was a slight fall in the amount of new loans for house purchases, driven by a decrease in home movers, the Bank of England said.

On the other hand, the proportion of lending to borrowers in the form of remortgages increased to 29.7% of the market.

The proportion of total loan balances in arrears continued to decrease and was at a record low of 1.08% at the end of Q4 2017.