The buy-to-let mortgage sector has enjoyed a buoyant 12 months with a 42% rise in the value of new lending to £5.9 billion in the third quarter.
This is the highest quarterly amount since Q2 2008, according to new statistics published by the Bank of England and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) yesterday.
The figures also showed the housing market hitting a string of new records, with lending to first-time buyers at a new post-crisis high.
The value of loans advanced to first-time buyers rose 37% to £9.9 billion, the highest quarterly amount since Q4 2007.
Gross mortgage advances of £49.5 billion in Q3 2013 were up 25% on the same quarter in 2012. This was the highest amount advanced in a quarter since Q3 2008.
Net advances in Q3 2013 amounted to £7.2 billion, some 29% higher than Q3 2012.
Yet there was a small quarterly fall in the proportion of gross advances at higher LTVs of 90% and above, down from 2.5% in Q2 to 2.2%. The figures cover the final three months before the launch of the second phase of Help to Buy.
The number of new arrears cases in Q3 2013 was 7.9% lower than in Q2 2013 at 29,900, the lowest quarterly number of new cases since the series began in 2007.
New cases taken into possession totalled 7,349 in Q3 2013, a 14% reduction from Q3 2012.
Mark Harris, chief executive of mortgage broker SPF Private Clients, said: "More borrowers are opting for fixed-rate mortgages, which is no surprise as these are pegged at their lowest levels since 2007, when the Bank of England series began."
"Despite fears that the repositioning of the Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS) will mean higher mortgage rates, we are not convinced this will happen straightaway.
"Some lenders still have FLS monies drawn but not used while many have aggressive targets for the first quarter of 2014, which means mortgage rates should stay low at least for the short term."
Comments