Residential mortgage loans have increased to their highest level since reporting began, data from the Bank of England has revealed.
The bank’s Mortgage Lenders and Administrators Statistics Q4 2024, found the outstanding value of all residential mortgage loans increased by 0.5 per cent from Q3 2024 to Q4.
As a result, the value rose to £1,678.2bn, the highest stock of outstanding mortgage loans since 2007, when reporting began, and 1.3 per cent higher than a year earlier.
The share of lending to first-time buyers also saw a record increase, rising 0.3 percentage points to 29.6 per cent.
This also represented the highest share since reporting began and was 1.9 percentage points higher than a year earlier.
NAEA Propertymark president, Toby Leek, said: “The news that the number of first-time buyers is increasing is extremely positive.”
However, Leek pointed out other data also suggests the average person looking to step on to the ladder for the first time will probably find it increasingly difficult to do so in the future.
He explained that, with the average age of a first-time buyer increasing to around 33.5 years old, and the amount of money needed to be put down as a deposit on a home continuing to rise to around £50,000, many people may find their home ownership aspirations difficult to achieve.
Additionally, the value of new mortgage commitments also rose in the final quarter of last year, rising by 4.9 per cent on a quarterly basis to £69.3bn, the highest since Q3 2022.
This represented an increase of 50.7 per cent compared to a year earlier.
Arrears
The bank also revealed that new arrears cases increased by 2.3 percentage points from the previous quarter to 12 per cent, but remained 1.5 percentage points lower than a year earlier.
Meanwhile, the value of outstanding mortgage balances with arrears increased by 1.3 per cent from the previous year to £22.1bn, and was 8.4 per cent higher than a year earlier.
The proportion of the total mortgage loan balances with arrears, relative to all outstanding mortgage balances, stayed the same as the previous quarter at 1.3 per cent, and was 0.1 percentage points higher than a year earlier.
tom.dunstan@ft.com
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