The value of new mortgage commitments stood at £34.3bn in the second quarter of this year, a 53.2 per cent drop on 2019’s Q2 figure, Bank of England data shows.

During the same time frame, the value of gross mortgage advances was £44.1bn, a 33.3. per cent drop on last year’s figure and, the bank says, the lowest level recorded since the second quarter of 2013.

The bank’s mortgage lenders and administrators statistics for Q2 2020 report adds that the distribution rates relative to the bank rate for gross mortgage advances were “broadly unchanged” from Q1.

Specifically, the share of advances at less than 2 per cent above the bank rate was 73.3 per cent, the share at 2 per cent or more and lower than 3 per cent 19.8 per cent, and the share at 3 per cent or more fell 1 per cent to make up 6.9 per cent.

In terms of LTVs, the share of mortgages advanced above 75 per cent LTV fell 3.2 per cent to 36.5 per cent, as did those above 90 per cent LTV, falling 0.4 per cent to 4.9 per cent.

The share making up over 95 per cent LTV stayed at 0.3 per cent, meanwhile.

The bank data also shows that the proportion of lending to borrowers with a high loan to income ratio fell 0.6 per cent from Q1 to Q2, making up 43.1 per cent of the total.

Looking at buy-to-let, the share of gross mortgage advances that went towards this use stood at 14.4 per cent in Q2 of this year, up 1.2 per cent from the same quarter in 2019.

The value of outstanding balances with arrears grew too, by 2.8 per cent from Q1 to Q2 to come to £14.1bn – accounting for 0.93 per cent of outstanding mortgage balances.

The bank notes that Covid-related mortgage payment deferrals “are not considered normal arrears”.

North London estate agent and former Rics residential chairman Jeremy Leaf comments: “These figures are interesting even though they are a little bit dated as they chart the bottom of the housing market between April and June when buying and selling was on its knees and there was very little activity.

“The outcome is in sharp contrast to what we have seen since in mortgage approvals, which demonstrate the sharp turnaround in activity since lockdown restrictions were eased and the stamp duty holiday was announced.

“Of note too is the performance of the BTL sector, which is shown here to be perhaps more resilient than many expected at that time. It proves that investors were still keen to look for opportunities in the rental market at a time when alternative investments offered little comfort.”