The value of these loans (£4.2 billion) also increased month-on-month by 24% and was up 14% year-on-year compared to March 2014.
In Q1, remortgage lending increased by 3% on the fourth quarter 2014 but down 5% on the same quarter last year. The value of these loans (£11.8 billion) also increased quarter-on-quarter by 6% and was up 2% year-on-year compared to quarter one 2014.
Home movers took out 25,200 loans in March, an increase of 14% compared to February but down 3% year-on-year. These loans were worth £4.9bn - up 17% on February and 7% compared to March 2014.
In Q1, home movers took out 70,400 loans, a decrease of 25% compared to the fourth quarter 2014 and a decrease of 11% year-on-year. These loans totalled in value £13.5bn - down 22% on the previous quarter and 5% down year-on-year on the first quarter 2014.
Home movers' payment burden remained relatively low in March at 18.3% of gross income being spent to cover monthly capital and interest payments, down from 18.5% in February, and well below the recent peak of 23.8% in December 2007.
Gross mortgage lending reached £16.1 billion in March. This represents an 18% increase from February's gross lending total and 5% higher than lending in March 2014. This means gross lending for the first quarter of this year was £44.5 billion - down 13% on the previous quarter and a 4% decrease on the first quarter of 2014.
Home-owner house purchase lending increased month-on-month by volume in March to 48,200 - up 16% on February but down 4% compared to March 2014. These loans totalled £8.2bn, which was up 17% on February and 4% on March last year.
This meant that loans advanced for home-owner house purchase in the first quarter of 2015 was 131,800, a decrease of 24% on the fourth quarter of 2014 and a year-on-year decline of 11% compared to the first quarter 2014. These loans were £22.4 billion in value - down 23% on the previous quarter and 5% down on the same quarter in 2014.
Paul Smee, director general of the CML, commented:
"It was a slow start to activity in the first couple of months of 2015 but the market started to get out of the dip in March, a trend that we think will continue as the year goes on.
"We will have to wait and see how the housing market reacts to the general election result and the reduction in the risk of a prolonged period of market uncertainty which could well have been damaging to businesses and the housing market.”
David Copland, Director of TMA, said:
“I am not surprised to see that lending was down in the first quarter of 2015 compared with 2014, as the help to buy schemes had kicked in at the end of 2013 and we had a buoyant market up to the implementation of the MMR in April 2014. Remortgages are up 3% compared with the last quarter of 2014 as mortgage holders take advantage of some unprecedented low fixed rates at 2 and 5 years.
“I expect to see the mortgage market kick on during the balance of the year now that we have certainty over the next government, with a slowing down towards the end of the year and into 2016 as lenders and intermediaries prepare for the implementation of the European mortgage credit directive, which includes the integration of second charges into MCOB.”
Danny Waters, CEO of master broker Enterprise Finance, said:
“The market for remortgage lending highlights consumers’ returning appetite for releasing capital from the value of their homes and the associated demand for secured loans. According to our research secured lending grew by about 14% in March. This means that £76m of second charge mortgages were taken out by homeowners in the third month of 2015 – a five-year high for the sector. The total amount lent on an annual basis now stands at £799m, a 19% improvement from the previous 12-month period. Make no mistake, demand for consumer credit is increasing.”
