This is according to the latest Mortgage Lenders and Administrators Statistics for the UK covering the period Q1 2013 published by The Bank of England and Financial Conduct Authority today.
The statistics showed the reduction in average interest rates was largely the result of a reduction of 30 bps in the rate for fixed rate lending.
However, the number of new arrears cases in Q1 2013 was 5.8% higher than in Q4 2012 at 36,700.
Nevertheless the total number of loan accounts with reportable arrears decreased slightly to 296,400 in Q1 2013 and the proportion of the residential loan book that was in arrears, and hence not fully performing, remained at 2.4% in Q1 2013, unchanged from Q4 2012.
New cases taken into possession totalled 8,092 in Q1 2013, 3.9% higher compared to Q4 2012 but a 15.1% reduction from Q1 last year.
The statistics released include:
• The overall value of the residential loan amounts outstanding was £1,228 billion in Q1 2013, a drop of 0.1% compared with Q4 2012.
• There was a 4.3% reduction in the value of new commitments to £35.5 billion when compared with Q1 2012.
• Gross advances of £34.0 billion in Q1 2013 were 6.8% lower than in Q1 2012 – a downward trend usual in the first quarter of the year. Net advances were also 52% lower than in Q1 2012 to £1.3 billion.
• Lending for house purchase accounted for 63.4% of new advances – 2.6 percentage points lower than in Q4 2012.
• The proportion of advances for remortgages increased in Q1 to 29.4%.
