fourth quarter 2015: First-time buyers took out 87,100 loans to purchase homes. + house prices in UK

New data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders released today reveals a mixed picture on lending in December to November. However, on an annual basis, the value of lending grew across all lending types.

Lending in December:

First-time buyers borrowed £4.5bn for home-owner house purchase, up 7% on November and 18% on December last year. This totalled 29,300 loans, up 6% month-on-month and 11% year-on-year.
Home movers borrowed £6.6bn, up 2% on November and 20% year-on-year. This totalled 33,400 loans, up 3% month-on-month and 12% compared to December 2014.
Home-owner remortgage activity was down 16% by volume and 16% by value compared to November. Compared to December 2014, remortgage lending was up 14% by volume and up 24% by value.
Gross buy-to-let saw month-on-month decreases, down 3% by volume and 3% by value, but the growth year-on-year continued.

Lending in the fourth quarter 2015:

First-time buyers took out 87,100 loans totalling £13.3bn to purchase homes. This was up by volume 3% on the third quarter and 14% on the fourth quarter 2014 and by value it was up 3% quarter-on-quarter and 8% year-on-year.
Home movers took out 101,900 loans, down 1% quarter-on-quarter but up 9% compared to the fourth quarter 2014. This totalled £20.3bn, down 3% on quarter three but up 18% year-on-year.
Home-owner remortgage activity was up 4% by volume and 6% by value compared to the third quarter. Compared to the fourth quarter 2014, remortgage lending was up 21% by volume and up 35% by value.
Gross buy-to-let saw a slight quarter-to-quarter decrease, down 1% by volume and 1% by value, but year-on-year growth continues.

Lending in 2015:

First-time buyers borrowed £46.7bn for home-owner house purchase in 2015, which was up 4% on 2014. This totalled 311,700 loans, unchanged from the previous year. First-time buyer lending was at its highest since 2007.
Home movers took out 365,800 loans, down 0.2% on 2014, but the amount borrowed totalled £72.1bn was up 7% on 2014. Lending was at its annual highest since 2007.
Home-owner remortgage activity was up 11% by volume and 20% by value compared to 2014. The value of remortgage lending was at its highest since 2008.
Gross buy-to-let also saw year-on-year increases, up 28% by volume and 39% by value. Buy-to-let lending was at its highest since 2007.

Breakdown of total value of mortgage loans per year in the UK

	Home-owner house purchase (in £millions)			Buy-to-let gross lending (in £millions)
	First-time buyers	Home movers	Remortgage	BtL house purchase	BtL remortgage
2015	46,700	72,100	55,000	15,600	21,900
2014	45,000	67,700	45,900	12,400	14,500
2013	36,100	58,100	45,100	9,300	10,700
2012	27,500	53,900	41,400	7,400	7,600
2011	23,800	51,700	46,700	6,200	6,400
2010	24,100	54,700	39,600	4,650	3,960
2009	22,000	47,300	51,800	4,530	3,390
2008	23,900	51,800	118,400	12,210	14,610
2007	47,200	107,500	129,200	23,100	20,640

Source: CML Regulated Mortgage Survey (April 2005 onwards)

Paul Smee, director general of the CML, commented:

Improving economic conditions, boosted by government schemes like Help to Buy, saw the highest quarterly number of loans to purchase a home for eight years. The market has seen a gradual upward trajectory over the past few years, rather than rapid growth, and we'd expect this trend to continue with gross lending steadily increasing over the next two years.

Chart 1: Loans to home-owners and for buy-to-let by value - December 2015

Source: CML Regulated Mortgage Survey (April 2005 onwards), CML Economics

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Lending for house purchase and remortgage

Below is a more detailed breakdown of charts and tables to add further context to the headline data results.

Chart 2: Number of loans for house purchase and proportion of FTBs and home-movers by month

Source: CML Regulated Mortgage Survey (April 2005 onwards)

Download the data

December lending for home-owner house purchase and remortgage

	No. of house purchase loans	% change by volume	Value of house purchase loans, £m	% change by value	No. of remortgage loans	% change by volume	Value of remortgage loans, £m	% change by value
Dec-15	62,700		11,100		25,500		4,200
Nov-15	60,200	+4.2%	10,700	+3.7%	30,300	-15.8%	5,000	-16.0%
Dec -14	56,100	+11.8%	9,400	+18.1%	22,400	+13.8%	3,400	+23.5%

Source: CML Regulated Mortgage Survey (April 2005 onwards)

Fourth quarter lending for home-owner house purchase and remortgage

	No. of house purchase loans	% change by volume	Value of house purchase loans, £m	% change by value	No. of remortgage loans	% change by volume	Value of remortgage loans, £m	% change by value
Q4-15	189,100		33,700		89,000		15,000
Q3-15	187,500	+0.9%	33,800	-0.3%	85,900	+3.6%	14,200	+5.6%
Q4 -14	174,300	+8.5%	29,000	+16.2%	73,300	+21.4%	11,100	+35.1%

Source: CML Regulated Mortgage Survey (April 2005 onwards)

December first-time buyer lending and affordability measures

	No. of loans	% change by volume	Value of loans £m	% change by value	Loan size (£)	Income (£)	Loan-to-value	Loan-to-income	Interest payment as % of income	Capital & interest payment as % of income
Dec-15	29,300		4,500		130,999	39,464	80.4%	3.50	9.6%	18.2%
Nov-15	27,700	+5.8%	4,200	+7.1%	128,250	39,257	83.7%	3.46	9.7%	18.3%
Dec-14	26,300	+11.4%	3,800	+18.4%	125,375	38,618	80.5%	3.39	11.0%	19.0%

Source: CML Regulated Mortgage Survey (April 2005 onwards)

Fourth quarter first-time buyers lending and affordability measures

	No. of loans	% change by volume	Value of loans £m	% change by value	Loan size (£)	Income (£)	Loan-to-value	Loan-to-income	Interest payment as % of income	Capital & interest payment as % of income
Q4-15	87,100		13,300		129,495	39,160	82.9%	3.48	9.7%	18.3%
Q3-15	84,200	+3.4%	12,900	+3.1%	128,245	39,409	83.7%	3.44	10.0%	18.4%
Q4-14	80,500	+8.2%	11,700	+13.7%	124,450	38,324	82.7%	3.38	11.5%	19.2%

Source: CML Regulated Mortgage Survey (April 2005 onwards)

December home mover lending and affordability measures

	No. of loans	% change by volume	Value of loans £m	% change by value	Loan size (£)	Income (£)	Loan-to-value	Loan-to-income	Interest payment as % of income	Capital & interest payment as % of income
Dec-15	33,400		6,600		166,500	54,179	73.2%	3.21	7.7%	18.1%
Nov-15	32,500	+2.8%	6,500	+1.5%	165,994	54,537	73.0%	3.18	7.7%	18.2%
Dec-14	29,800	+12.1%	5,500	+20.0%	155,800	53,500	71.9%	3.04	8.6%	18.3%

Source: CML Regulated Mortgage Survey (April 2005 onwards)

Fourth quarter home mover lending and affordability measures

	No. of loans	% change by volume	Value of loans £m	% change by value	Loan size (£)	Income (£)	Loan-to-value	Loan-to-income	Interest payment as % of income	Capital & interest payment as % of income
Q4-15	101,900		20,300		165,999	54,449	72.9%	3.19	7.6%	18.1%
Q3-15	103,400	-1.5%	20,900	-2.9%	167,563	55,391	72.2%	3.14	7.5%	18.1%
Q4-14	93,800	+8.6%	17,200	+18.0%	153,500	53,174	71.4%	3.03	8.8%	18.4%

Source: CML Regulated Mortgage Survey (April 2005 onwards)

Chart 3: Number of home-owner remortgages by month

Source: CML Regulated Mortgage Survey (April 2005 onwards)

Download data

December buy-to-let lending

	Gross lending buy-to-let				Buy-to-let house purchase				Buy-to-let remortgage
	No. of loans	% change	Value of loans (£m)	% change	No. of loans	% change	Value of loans (£m)	% change	No. of loans	% change	Value of loans (£m)	% change
Dec-15	22,500		3,400		10,300		1,400		11,900		1,900
Nov-15	23,300	-3.4%	3,500	-2.9%	10,000	+3.0%	1,300	+7.7%	13,100	-9.2%	2,100	-9.5%
Dec-14	17,300	+30.1%	2,500	+36.0%	8,600	+19.8%	1,100	+27.3%	8,600	+38.4%	1,400	+35.7%

Source: CML Economics

Fourth quarter buy-to-let lending

	Gross lending buy-to-let				Buy-to-let house purchase				Buy-to-let remortgage
	No. of loans	% change	Value of loans (£m)	% change	No. of loans	% change	Value of loans (£m)	% change	No. of loans	% change	Value of loans (£m)	% change
Q4-15	70,500		10,700		31,600		4,300		38,200		6,200
Q3-15	71,400	-1.3%	10,800	-0.9%	33,500	-5.7%	4,500	-4.4%	37,200	+2.7%	6,200	0.0%
Q4-14	54,000	+30.6%	7,600	+40.8%	26,800	+17.9%	3,300	+30.3%	26,900	+42.0%	4,300	+44.2%

Source: CML Economics

Chart 4: Number of buy-to-let loans for house purchase and remortgage by month

Source: CML Economics

Download data

Downloads

MLGL: Mortgage lending tables, Greater London (CML) (XLS 308KB)
ML2: First-time buyers, lending and affordability (XLS 104KB)
ML3: Home movers, lending and affordability (XLS 106KB)
ML4: All loans for house purchase, lending and affordability (XLS 96KB)
ML5: Fixed and variable rate lending, house purchases and remortgages (XLS 124KB)
ML6: Methods of repayment (XLS 290KB)
ML7: Distribution of property valuations (XLS 118KB)
ML1: Gross mortgage lending by type of advance (XLS 115KB)
ML8: Lending via intermediaries (XLS 43KB)
MM17: Buy-to-let gross advances (XLS 1.71MB)

Main findings

UK house prices increased by 6.7% in the year to December 2015, down from 7.7% in the year to November 2015.
House price annual inflation was 7.3% in England, 1.0% in Wales, -0.2% in Scotland and 1.5% in Northern Ireland.
Annual house price increases in England were driven by an annual increase in the East (9.7%), London (9.4%) and the South East (8.8%).
Excluding London and the South East, UK house prices increased by 4.6% in the 12 months to December 2015.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, average house prices decreased by 0.2% between November 2015 and December 2015.
In December 2015, prices paid by first-time buyers were 6.4% higher on average than in December 2014.
For owner-occupiers (existing owners), prices increased by 6.9% for the same period.

Get all the tables for this publication in the data section of this publication .

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