The availability of secured credit rose in the final quarter of 2019, says the Bank of England.

In its latest credit conditions survey, filled out by banks and building societies, the BoE shows the net percentage balance of available credit moving from -1 in Q3 to 15.2 in Q4 2019.

In the final quarter of 2018, the net percentage balance came in at -12.1.

The bank says that the increase was accountable to “market share objectives.”

Despite this increase, survey respondents expect the reading over the next three months to come in at -11.2 .

The net percentage balance for secured lending demand decreased in in Q4 2019 – from 12.5 to -12.7.

Respondents expect this reading to change slightly, to -14.3 over the next three months.

However, the net percentage balance of demand for remortgaging moved from -12.2 to 19.5. The prediction for the next three months reads as -14.9.

The survey also shows that the net percentage balance for changes in default rates on secured loans to households fell in Q4, reading -21.8 against -4, as in Q3, and this is expect to come in at -15.3 over the next three months.

SPF Private Clients chief executive Mark Harris says: “It is no surprise that mortgages were more readily available in the final quarter of last year. Lenders had one eye on year-end targets and you would traditionally expect to see a push for business at this time.

“With transaction levels subdued as would-be buyers and sellers prevaricated over making decisions with Brexit looming large in the background, the need to do more lending was ever more apparent.

Harris adds that a drop in default rates is “likely to be down to cheap interest rates and forbearance shown by lenders.

“Tougher affordability criteria also mean borrowers are less likely to overstretch themselves in the first place when taking out a mortgage,” he concludes.

Coreco managing director Andrew Montlake adds: “It is no surprise lenders said the availability of secured credit to households rose in the fourth quarter. The mortgage lending market was awash with cash trying to find a home.

“’Market share objectives’ can be translated as major high street lenders competing like crazy to get the business of prime borrowers.

“It is hard to understand why lenders are expecting supply to decrease in the three months to the end of February. From what we are seeing, they are as hungry as ever to get money into the market and have become even more bullish following the general election result.

“It is curious that lenders are expecting mortgage demand to drop off in the first quarter. We are already seeing an uplift in demand and transactions on the back of improved sentiment following the general election.

“Nobody is expecting transaction levels to suddenly go through the roof, as there is still a lot of uncertainty as to how Brexit pans out, but demand has definitely improved in January and the signs are that this will continue.”