New mortgage advances increased 7% in the third quarter of this year to £40bn, up from £37bn in Q2, according to the latest FSA mortgage lending data. New commitments fell 10% from £40bn in Q2 to £36bn last quarter.
The value of outstanding loans totaled £1.23trn, rising marginally from £1.2trn in Q2.
The average interest rate on new advances increased from 3.78 per cent to 3.89 per cent. There was an increase in the rates for both variable and fixed rate lending. Lending for house purchases accounted for 66% of new advances, rising from 62% in the previous quarter.
The proportion of new lending done at 90% loan-to-value remained at 2% for the third consecutive quarter. The proportion of loans to borrowers with an impaired credit history remained at 0.3%, also for the third consecutive quarter.
In Q3, there were 35,900 new arrears cases. This represents a 4% increase on the 34,400 in Q2. The total number of accounts in arrears at the end of the quarter rose 2% to 303,200, up from 296,500 in Q2. This was 7% less than the 324,300 in Q3, 2011.
The proportion of residential loans in arrears rose marginally from 2.45 in Q2 to 2.46 in the third quarter. The number of new repossessions fell 2% to 8,521 from 8,720.