Data for Q3 from the Financial Conduct Authority suggests that the outstanding value of all residential mortgage loans increased by 0.6% from the previous quarter to £1,670.9 billion.

This is the highest stock of outstanding mortgage loans since 2023 Q1, some 0.8% higher than a year earlier.
 

The value of gross mortgage advances increased by 8.9% from the previous quarter to £65.5 billion, the highest new advances since 2022 Q4, and was 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 £66.0 billion, but remained 34.2% higher than a year earlier.

The FCA has also released data about the Mortgage Charter introduced back in June 2023, and shows that around 1.7m mortgages have benefited from one or more of the options set out in the Charter, whether explicitly or through a business-as-usual channel.
 

Around 149,000 mortgages have temporarily reduced monthly payments via the new FCA rules.
 

Between July 2023 and October 2024, the monthly payments on around 214,000 mortgages were reduced as people switched to temporarily paying interest-only or extended their mortgage term. This is around 2.6% of regulated mortgage contracts. 

The data shows that only 547 term extensions were reversed, which could indicate that borrowers seeking a temporary reduction in their payments are more likely to opt for an interest-only period.
 

Some 159 properties were repossessed within 12 months of missing the first payment. Firms report these were for customer-driven reasons, for example voluntary possessions or abandoned/vacant properties.

On arrears, the picture is mixed. New arrears cases as a proportion of outstanding balances decreased from the previous quarter but remain higher than a year ago. The total value of mortgage balances in arrears also dipped slightly but is still up 17.5% compared to the same time last year, suggesting that while immediate pressures may have eased for some, financial challenges persist for others.

Holly Tomlinson, financial planner at Quilter, has assessed the data and says the mortgage charter has clearly played a significant role in helping over a million people navigate significant challenges and higher interest rates over the last year.

“Interestingly, the share of mortgage advances with loan-to-value ratios above 90% rose to 6.6%, the highest since 2008, reflecting increased risk-taking as lenders seek to attract buyers with smaller deposits. Some might worry about the correlation with the financial crisis however lending criteria is much stricter than it was then with stress testing rules dictating customers can afford their mortgages even in a volatile interest rate environment. 

“Conversely, remortgaging activity dropped to 22.8%, down from the previous quarter, as many homeowners have already locked in deals during the earlier rate-hiking cycle” she says.

But she cautions: “However, it remains unclear whether many of the people who benefited from the Charter might have done so regardless, as some of the measures are typically adopted throughout the industry as standard practice. For example, 1,738,489 people with mortgages approaching the end of a fixed-rate deal locked into a new deal up to six months ahead of maturity. This is typically standard practice and makes up the majority of those who have benefited.

“Similarly, 410,345 people with mortgages locked into a new deal up to six months ahead of maturity, before the start of the new deal, locked into an alternative deal.

“What is clear from this data is that while things are improving in the property market, we are not quite out of the woods yet and those remortgaging in the new year might be in for a nasty shock.”