It shows that gross mortgage lending is down 6.8% on Q1 2012, with lenders advancing £34.0 billion this quarter. Net advances were also 52% lower than Q1 2012, at £1.3 billion. The proportion of lending for re-mortgages increased in Q1 to 29.4%.
The overall value of the residential loan amounts outstanding was £1,228 billion in Q1 2013, a decrease of 0.1% compared with Q4.
Lower interest rates on mortgages, particularly on fixed rate lending, have made a difference to the figures, with the overall average interest rate down from 3.81% last quarter to 3.65% in Q1 2013.
Lending for house purchase accounted for 63.4% of new advances – 2.6 percentage points lower than in Q4 2012.
