The number of new agreements for second charge mortgage lending was up 19 per cent in the 12 months to December 2019, figures show.

The Finance & Leasing Association’s latest release describes a total of 28,016 new agreements made in 2019 at a value of £1.25bn – an increase in value of 18 per cent.

This is the highest amount of new agreements recorded since 2008.

In December 2019 itself, there were 2,068 new agreements at a value of £94m, a 16 per cent and 19 per cent increase on the year, respectively.

This means that every month of 2019 recorded double-digit growth, says FLA head of consumer and mortgage finance Fiona Hoyle.

“Although still a relatively small sector, second charge mortgages are proving popular with consumers and we expect the market to continue to grow in 2020,” she adds.