Remortgage lending up

Mortgage lending in the UK was up for remortgaging in the fourth quarter of 2018 compared to a year earlier, according to data from the Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority, though down for house purchasing. Lending to existing borrowers was 1.4 percentage points higher than a year earlier, at 31.1% of the total figures, the statistics revealed, while the proportion of lending for house purchases, including buy-to-let lending, was one percentage point lower than in 2017’s fourth quarter - at 63.5%. The data also revealed that the percentage of total loans going to first time buyers remained high by historical standards, at 21.2%.

City AM