The outstanding value of all residential mortgage loans increased by 0.6% from the previous quarter to £1,670.9bn, the highest stock of outstanding mortgage loans since 2023 Q1, and was 0.8% higher than a year earlier.

This is according to the Bank of England’s Mortgage Lenders and Administrators Statistics for Q3, which also reveals that the value of gross mortgage advances increased by 8.9% from the previous quarter to £65.5bn, the highest new advances since 2022 Q4, and was 6.7% higher than a year earlier.

However, the value of new mortgage commitments (lending agreed to be advanced in the coming months) decreased by 1.3% from the previous quarter to £66bn but remained 34.2% higher than a year earlier.

The share of gross mortgage advances with loan-to-value (LTV) ratios exceeding 90% increased by 0.6pp from the previous quarter to 6.6%, the highest share since 2008 Q2, and was 1.6pp higher than a year earlier.

The share of gross mortgage advances for house purchase for owner occupation increased by 6.9pp from the previous quarter to 64.4%, the highest share since 2021 Q2, and was 6.1pp higher than a year earlier.

The share of gross advances for remortgages for owner occupation decreased by 5.8pp from the previous quarter to 22.8%  and was 7.0pp lower 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 1.1pp from the previous quarter to 7.9%, but remained 0.5pp higher than a year earlier.

New arrears cases (as a proportion of total outstanding balances with arrears) decreased by 1.3pp from the previous quarter to 9.7% and was 6.3pp lower than a year earlier.

The value of outstanding mortgage balances with arrears decreased by 0.4% from the previous quarter to £21.9bn but remained 17.5% higher than a year earlier.