The value of BTL advances in the first quarter of 2014 reached £6.8bn, up 65% from £4.1bn in the same period a year earlier. Buy-to-let lending accounted for 14% of all mortgage advances in Q1 2014, up from 12% in 2013.
First-time buyer advances rose in Q1, up 51% to £9.4bn from £6.2bn a year earlier, with one in five mortgages advanced in the first quarter of 2014 to a first-time buyer.
Remortgages totalled £12.9bn in value, up 29% from £10bn in Q1 2013 - over a quarter (27%) of all mortgages advanced in the first three months of the year.
Some 65% of loans in that time period were at 75% LTV or less, with 32% between 75 and 90% LTV. Some 3.1% of mortgages were between 90 and 95% LTV, almost double the 1.6% seen in Q1 2013.
The number of new arrears cases in Q1 was 27,761, down 25% from the first quarter of 2013 and the lowest quarterly total since the series began in 2007.
David Newnes, director of Your Move and Reeds Rains owned by LSL Property Services PLC, commented:
“Help to Buy has helped to infuse new energy into the UK housing market, supporting a 52% increase in first-time buyer borrowing in the first three months of 2014 compared to the same period last year. The scheme has helped increase higher loan-to-value lending, which is giving borrowers with smaller deposits a vital leg-up onto the property ladder. In fact the latest LSL First Time Buyer Opinion Barometer showed the total number of first-time buyers grew by 47% year-on-year in April.
“Despite rigorous new mortgage criteria, demand for first-time buyer property will not lose steam – helped along by lower deposit requirements and affordable mortgage interest rates coupled with wage growth strengthening. The traditional stumbling block for many prospective buyers is saving for a deposit, but we have seen the average first-time buyer deposit fall by over £2,000 in the last year. Thousands have been able to achieve their long-held ambitions of homeownership, and many more will be looking to seize the opportunity.”
