Second charge mortgage lending in March hit £123m the highest amount of new business in a month this year, but was 12% down on a year ago, data from the Finance & Leasing Association shows.  

This type of lending topped £333m for the first three months of the year, 5% lower than the first quarter 12 months ago.  

However, second charge loans amounted to £1.5bn in the year to March, a 24% jump on the previous year.  

Finance & Leasing Association director of consumer & mortgage finance and inclusion Fiona Hoyle says: “March saw the second charge mortgage market report its highest level of new business so far this year and the first quarter ended with new business volumes only 5% lower than in the first quarter of 2022.   

“The distribution by purpose of loans in March showed 58% of new agreements were for the consolidation of existing loans, 14% for home improvements, and a further 22% for both loan consolidation and home improvements.”  

Overall, there were 2,745 new deals signed in March, down 10%, 7,446 agreements in the first quarter, down 5%, and 33,384 new deals were struck in the year to March, up 17%. 

Second charge lending was down 10% on a year ago to £106m in February and up 14% on the previous 12 months to £103m in January.