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Mortgage Lenders and Administrators Statistics - 2023 Q4

The Mortgage Lenders and Administrators Return (MLAR) is a quarterly statistical release aggregated from data on mortgage lending activities provided by around 340 regulated mortgage lenders and administrators.

Published on 12 March 2024

Mortgage Lenders and Administrators Statistics: 2023 Q4

Key findings

The outstanding value of all residential mortgage loans decreased by 0.1% from the previous quarter to £1,657.6 billion, and was 1.1% lower than a year earlier (Table A).¹
The value of gross mortgage advances decreased by 13.4% from the previous quarter to £54.0 billion, and was 33.8% lower than a year earlier (Table A and Chart 1).
The value of new mortgage commitments (lending agreed to be advanced in the coming months) decreased by 6.6% from the previous quarter to £46.0 billion, and was 21.2% lower than a year earlier (Table A and Chart 1). If the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic is excluded, this was the lowest observed since 2013 Q1.
The proportion of lending to borrowers with a high loan to income (LTI) ratio decreased by 2.6pp from the previous quarter to 42.7%, and was 6.6pp lower than a year earlier (Chart 4).
The share of gross mortgage advances for house purchase for owner occupation increased by 1.0pp from the previous quarter to 58.7%, and was 3.3pp higher than a year earlier (Chart 5).
The share of gross advances for remortgages for owner occupation decreased by 0.8pp from the previous quarter to 29.7%, but was 2.3pp higher than a year earlier (Chart 5).
The share of gross mortgage advances for buy-to-let purposes (covering house purchase, remortgage and further advance) decreased by 0.5pp from the previous quarter to 7.0%, the lowest since 2010 Q3, and 4.9pp lower than a year earlier (Chart 5).
New arrears cases decreased by 2.6pp from the previous quarter, to 13.2% of the total outstanding balances with arrears, but remained 0.2pp higher than a year earlier.
The value of outstanding mortgage balances with arrears increased by 9.2% from the previous quarter, to £20.3 billion, and was 50.3% higher than a year earlier (Chart 6). The proportion of the total loan balances with arrears, relative to all outstanding mortgage balances, increased on the quarter from 1.12% to 1.23%, the highest since 2016 Q4.

Table A: Residential loans to individuals, flows and balances

Regulated and non-regulated mortgages *

£ billions

Not seasonally adjusted

	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4
	2022				2023
Flows
Gross advances	76.9	78.0	85.9	81.6	58.8	52.4	62.3	54.0
New commitments	82.5	84.0	87.8	58.3	48.9	61.7	49.2	46.0

Amounts outstanding	1,630.8	1,648.8	1,666.5	1,675.3	1,674.9	1,655.0	1,658.9	1,657.6

¹ Table 1.11 sub table A row 9
*This data covers regulated mortgage lending, and non-regulated mortgage lending by firms which undertake regulated mortgage lending or administration of regulated mortgages.

Graphical Analysis:

The value of gross mortgage advances decreased by 13.4% (£8.3 billion) from the previous quarter to £54.0 billion, and was 33.8% lower than a year earlier (Table A and Chart 1).²
The value of new mortgage commitments (lending agreed to be advanced in the coming months) decreased by 6.6% from the previous quarter to £46.0 billion, and was 21.2% lower than a year earlier (Table A and Chart 1).³ If the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic is excluded, this was the lowest observed since 2013 Q1.

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The share of gross mortgage advances with interest rates less than 2% above Bank Rate decreased by 0.9 percentage points (pp) from the previous quarter to 95.1%, marking the second consecutive decrease since 2021 Q2 (before the increases in Bank Rate), but remained 1.5pp higher than a year ago (Chart 2).⁴
The share of advances with interest rates between 2% and 3% above Bank Rate increased over the quarter to 2.2% from 2.0%, while the share of advances with interest rates 3% or more above Bank Rate increased by 0.7pp from the previous quarter to 2.7%.^5,6

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The share of gross mortgage advances with loan-to-value (LTV) ratios exceeding 90% increased by 0.5pp from the previous quarter to 5.5%, the highest since 2019 Q4, and was 0.4pp higher than a year ago (Chart 3).⁷
Within this, the share of mortgages advances with LTVs over 95% has increased from the previous quarter to 0.4%. This is the highest since 2016 Q4.⁸
The share of mortgages advanced in 2023 Q4 with LTV ratios exceeding 75% increased by 0.6pp on the quarter to 39.5%. This is 2.5pp higher than a year earlier and the highest since 2021 Q3.⁹

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The proportion of lending to borrowers with a high loan to income (LTI) ratio decreased by 2.6pp from the previous quarter to 42.7%, and was 6.6pp lower than a year earlier (Chart 4).¹⁰ Borrowers with high LTI are defined here as:
- Borrowers with single income who had a LTI ratio of 4 or above. This remained unchanged from the previous quarter, at 8.9% of gross mortgage lending.¹¹
- Borrowers with a joint income who had a LTI ratio of 3 or above. This decreased by 2.6pp to the lowest since 2020 Q2, at 33.8% of gross mortgage lending.¹²

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The share of gross mortgage advances for buy-to-let purposes decreased by 0.5pp from the previous quarter to 7.0%, the lowest since 2010 Q3, and 4.9pp lower than a year earlier (Chart 5). The share of advances to owner occupiers was 93.0%.^13,14
Of the 93.0% of advances for owner occupiers, the share of gross advances for remortgages decreased by 0.8pp from the previous quarter to 29.7%, but was 2.3pp higher than a year earlier. The share for house purchase increased by 1.0pp from the previous quarter to 58.7%, and was 3.3pp higher than a year earlier. Further advances and other mortgages (including lifetime mortgages) accounted for 4.7% of gross advances in total.^15,16,17
Of the 58.7% of advances for house purchases by owner occupiers, lending to first-time buyers increased by 1.2pp from the previous quarter to 27.1% of gross advances, the highest since reporting began in 2007, and was 3.0pp higher than a year earlier. The share advanced to home movers decreased by 0.3pp from the previous quarter to 31.5%, but was 0.3pp higher from a year earlier.^18,19

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New arrears cases decreased by 2.6pp from the previous quarter, to 13.2% of the total outstanding mortgage 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).²⁰
The value of outstanding mortgage balances with arrears increased by 9.2% from the previous quarter to £20.3 billion. This was 50.3% higher than a year earlier (Chart 6).²¹
The proportion of the total loan balances with arrears, relative to all outstanding mortgage balances, increased on the quarter from 1.12% to 1.23%.²² This is the highest since 2016 Q4.

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Appendix

¹ Table 1.11 sub table A row 9

² Table 1.21 sub table C row 1

³ Table 1.21 sub table C row 3

⁴ Table 1.22 sub table C row 3 (less than 2% above)

⁵ Table 1.22 sub table C row 4 (2.00% to 2.99% above)

⁶ Table 1.22 sub table C row 5 + row 6 (3% or more above)

⁷ Table 1.31 sub table C row 19 + row 20

⁸ Table 1.31 sub table C row 20

⁹ Calculated as 100% of all mortgages less those <= 75% LTV (Table 1.31 sub table C row 21 - row 17)

¹⁰ Table 1.31 sub table C row 5 + row 13

¹¹ Table 1.31 sub table C row 5

¹² Table 1.31 sub table C row 13 a The ‘Other’ category is used when the loan assessment is based, only partly or not at all, on one or more persons’ incomes. Further details can be found in the FCA Handbook.

¹³ Table 1.33 sub table C row 4 (buy-to-let)

¹⁴ Calculated as 100% of all mortgages less those for buy-to-let purposes (100% - Table 1.33 sub table C row 4) (owner-occupation)

¹⁵ Table 1.33 sub table C row 6 (remortgage)

¹⁶ Table 1.33 sub table C row 2 + row 3 (house purchase owner occupation)

¹⁷ Table 1.33 sub table C row 5 + row 9 (further advance and other)

¹⁸ Table 1.33 sub table C row 2 (first-time buyers)

¹⁹ Table 1.33 sub table C row 3 (home movers)

²⁰ Table 1.7 sub table C row 4

²¹ Table 1.7 sub table C row 10

²² Table 1.7 sub table C row 11

Queries

If you have any comments or queries about this release please email mlar@bankofengland.co.uk.

Next release date: 11 June 2024

More information

Long run versions of the summary and detailed tables are now available in Excel format, for data going back to Q1 2007. These have been sourced from data published by the FSA on their archive pages prior to Q1 2013 and data published by the Bank of England from Q1 2013.

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