Mortgage lending rose during third quarter
December 20, 2025 by Brendan O'Neill
Lenders
The third quarter of this year brought a rise in gross mortgage lending, which was partly fuelled by an increase in the volume of high loan-to-value (LTV) lending.
This is what is revealed by the latest Mortgage Lenders and Administrators Return (MLAR) published by the Bank of England. It is a report that is released each quarter and that draws on lending data taken from approximately 340 UK mortgage lenders. What the data for the third quarter shows is that there was a 36.9% increase in gross lending, compared with the quarter before. This took the lending total to £80.4 billion.
It represents the biggest lending increase for a single quarter since the third quarter of 2020 and is a rise of 22.7% on the figure for 2024 Q3. A big factor in the overall rise in lending was the surge in high LTV mortgage loans.
There was a 0.3 percentage point increase in lending above 90% LTV, in comparison with the second quarter. That took lending of this kind to 7.4%, which is the biggest share of the lending total it has had in 17 years.
Among the reasons for that is changes in regulation. Examples include the decision to loosen the LTI flow limit and the FCA making the rules concerning stress rates clearer than before.
Speaking to Financial Reporter, Richard Pike from Phoebus Software said:
“These figures demonstrate the mortgage market was in rude health over the summer, with overall lending up for the seventh consecutive quarter.”
Advisors with CeMAP training may be particularly pleased about this news.
Written by
Brendan O'Neill
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