The highest annual volume, and value, of mortgages to borrowers aged over 55 since 2014 occurred last year, according to UK Finance’s latest quarterly report on later life mortgage lending.

The report says there were 187,120 new mortgages to borrowers aged 55 years and over completed during 2021, totalling £28.1bn over the year.

This represents an 11% increase in mortgage volumes compared to 2020, and a 22% increase in the value of lending.

The wider mortgage market saw a 27% increase in the value of lending over the year, the report said.

According to the trade body, the increase in lending to older borrowers was spurred by the stamp duty holiday, which drove homeowners of all ages across the UK to either move or buy a second property.

Lending slowed over the fourth quarter, however, with 44,590 new mortgages arranged for those over the age of 55, and lending totalling £6.8bn, representing a 2.6% decline in mortgage volumes compared to quarter three, and a 3.6% drop compared to the same quarter last year.

The quarterly decline was driven primarily by the end of the stamp duty holiday in September.

The volume of lifetime mortgages, however, increased during quarter four 2021, and totalled 10,860, a 7.5% increase on quarter three figures.

According to the report: “While the end of the stamp duty holiday has led to lower volumes of purchase, volumes of lifetime mortgages and remortgaging have remained stable. This has led to total levels of lending to older borrowers over age 55 at the end of 2021 remaining higher than levels seen prior to 2018.”

“Looking at 2021 as a whole, the volume of mortgages to borrowers over age 55 reached 187,120, higher than annual volumes since 2014 (which is when these data started to be collected).”

“The full effects can be seen in the total gross mortgage lending figure for 2021 of £28.1bn, a 22% increase compared with 2020, as the higher volumes of purchase led to a higher average value of loan.”