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Mortgage Lenders and Administrators Statistics - 2021 Q3

The Mortgage Lenders and Administrators Return (MLAR) is a quarterly statistical release aggregated from data on mortgage lending activities provided by around 340 regulated mortgage lenders and administrators.

Published on 14 December 2021

Key findings

The outstanding value of all residential mortgage loans was £1,601.2 billion at the end of 2021 Q3, 4.9% higher than a year earlier (Table A).^{footnote [1]}
The value of gross mortgage advances in 2021 Q3 was £73.4 billion, which was £15.6 billion lower than the previous quarter, but 17.4% higher than the amount seen in 2020 Q3 (Table A and Chart 1).
The value of new mortgage commitments (lending agreed to be advanced in the coming months) was 8.2% less than the previous quarter but broadly unchanged from a year earlier, at £78.9 billion (Table A and Chart 1).
The share of gross advances with interest rates less than 2% above Bank Rate was 57.3% in 2021 Q3, 16.9 percentage points (pp) lower than a year ago (Chart 2).
The share of mortgages advanced in 2021 Q3 with loan to value (LTV) ratios exceeding 90% was 4.2%, 0.6pp higher than a year earlier and a 2.1pp increase compared to the previous quarter (Chart 3).
The share for house purchase for owner occupation was 58.9%, down 7.6pp on the previous quarter but up 3.1pp from 2020 Q3. The share of gross advances for remortgages for owner occupation was 22.9%, a decrease of 2.1pp since 2020 Q3, but an increase of 6.4pp since 2021 Q2 (Chart 5).
The value of outstanding balances with some arrears decreased by 3.4% over the quarter to £13.8 billion, and now accounts for 0.86% of outstanding mortgage balances (Chart 6).

Regulated and non-regulated mortgages*
£ billions - Not seasonally adjusted

	Q4	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Q1	Q2	Q3
	2019	2020				2021

Flows
Gross advances	73.5	65.8	44.2	62.5	76.6	83.3	89.0	73.4
New commitments	70.6	67.3	34.4	78.9	87.7	77.5	85.9	78.9

Amounts outstanding	1,496.9	1,507.7	1,514.8	1,526.0	1,541.5	1,561.8	1,587.6	1,601.2

*This data covers regulated mortgage lending, and non-regulated mortgage lending by firms which undertake regulated mortgage lending or administration of regulated mortgages.

Graphical analysis

The value of gross mortgage advances in 2021 Q3 was £73.4 billion, which was £15.6 billion lower than the previous quarter, but 17.4% higher than the amount seen in 2020 Q3 (Table A and Chart 1).^{footnote [2]}
The value of new mortgage commitments (lending agreed to be advanced in the coming months) was 8.2% less than the previous quarter but broadly unchanged from a year earlier, at £78.9 billion (Table A and Chart 1).^{footnote [3]}

Not seasonally adjusted

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The share of gross advances with interest rates less than 2% above Bank Rate was 57.3% in 2021 Q3, 1.1pp higher than the previous quarter, but 16.9pp lower than a year ago (Chart 2).^{footnote [4]}
The share of advances with interest rates between 2% and 3% above Bank Rate decreased over the quarter to 27.2% from 29.3%, while the share of advances with interest rates 3% or more above Bank Rate increased by 1.0pp to 15.6% from 2021 Q2.^{footnote [5]}^{footnote [6]}

Not seasonally adjusted

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The share of advances with LTV ratios exceeding 90% increased on the quarter, by 2.1pp, to 4.2% in 2021 Q3, the highest observed since 2020 Q2 and 0.6pp higher than a year earlier (Chart 3).^{footnote [7]} Within this, the share of mortgages advanced with LTVs over 95% was 0.3%, broadly unchanged over recent quarters.^{footnote [8]}
The share of mortgages advanced in 2021 Q3 with loan to value (LTV) ratios exceeding 75% increased by 0.5pp on the quarter to 40.3%. This is also 0.7pp higher than a year earlier.^{footnote [9]}

Not seasonally adjusted

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The proportion of lending to borrowers with a high loan to income (LTI) ratio decreased by 3.0pp on the quarter to 48.5% in 2021 Q3, but is 0.2pp higher than a year earlier (Chart 4).^{footnote [10]} Borrowers with high LTI are defined here as:

Borrowers with single income who had a LTI ratio of 4 or above. These loans accounted for 11.2% of gross mortgage lending in 2021 Q3, a 1.2pp decrease compared to the previous quarter.^{footnote [11]}
Borrowers with a joint income who had a LTI of 3 or above. These loans accounted for 37.2% of gross mortgage lending in 2021 Q3, a 1.8pp decrease compared to the previous quarter.^{footnote [12]}

Not seasonally adjusted

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The share of gross mortgage advances for buy-to-let purposes (covering house purchase, remortgage and further advance) was 11.9% in 2021 Q3, a fall of 0.6pp from 2020 Q3 (Chart 5). The share of advances to owner occupiers was 88.1%.^{footnote [13]}^{footnote [14]}
Of the 88.1% of advances for owner occupiers, the share for remortgages was 22.9%, a decrease of 2.1pp since 2020 Q3, but an increase on the previous quarter, for the first time since 2020 Q2, of 6.4pp. The share for house purchase was 58.9%, down 7.6pp on the previous quarter but up 3.1pp from 2020 Q3. Further advances and other mortgages (including lifetime mortgages) accounted for 6.3% of gross advances in total.^{footnote [15]}^{footnote [16]}^{footnote [17]}
Of the 58.9% of advances for house purchases by owner occupiers, lending to first-time buyers was 1.4pp higher than in 2020 Q3, at 24.3% of gross advances, but is 0.5pp lower than 2021 Q2. The share advanced to home movers increased by 1.7pp on a year earlier, to 34.6%, but is 7.2pp lower than 2021 Q2.^{footnote [18]}^{footnote [19]}

Not seasonally adjusted

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The value of outstanding balances with arrears (defined as the borrower failing to make contractual payments equivalent to at least 1.5% of the outstanding mortgage balance or where the property is in possession) decreased by 3.4% on the quarter, to £13.8 billion, the lowest it has been since 2020 Q1 (Chart 6).^{footnote [20]}
The proportion of total loan balances with arrears decreased on the quarter from 0.90% to 0.86%.^{footnote [21]}

Not seasonally adjusted

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Table 1.11 sub table A row 9
Table 1.21 sub table C row 1
Table 1.21 sub table C row 3
Table 1.22 sub table C row 3 (less than 2% above)
Table 1.22 sub table C row 4 (2.00% to 2.99% above)
Table 1.22 sub table C row 5 + row 6 (3% or more above)
Table 1.31 sub table C row 19 + row 20
Table 1.31 sub table C row 20
100% - Table 1.31 sub table C row 17
Table 1.31 sub table C row 5 + row 13
Table 1.31 sub table C row 5
Table 1.31 sub table C row 13
Table 1.33 sub table C row 4 (buy-to-let)
100% - Table 1.33 sub table C row 4 (owner-occupation)
Table 1.33 sub table C row 6 (remortgage)
Table 1.33 sub table C row 2 + row 3 (house purchase owner occupation)
Table 1.33 sub table C row 5 + row 9 (further advance and other)
Table 1.33 sub table C row 2 (first-time buyers)
Table 1.33 sub table C row 3 (home movers)
Table 1.7 sub table C row 10
Table 1.7 sub table C row 11

Queries

If you have any comments or queries about this release please email mlar@bankofengland.co.uk.

Next release date: 8 March 2022

More information

Long run versions of the summary and detailed tables are now available in Excel format, for data going back to Q1 2007. These have been sourced from data published by the FSA on their archive pages prior to Q1 2013 and data published by the Bank of England from Q1 2013.

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