Government · UK · Bank of England
8.4% of New UK Mortgages Now Exceed 90% Loan-to-Value
Bank of England data for the second quarter of 2026 shows UK mortgage lending rebounding hard, with gross advances up 31.7% on the year. The deposits behind that lending are thinner than at any point since 2008, and remortgaging now takes almost a third of owner-occupier borrowing.
Source published Summarised
Key findings at a glance
- 8.4% share of new mortgage advances at a loan-to-value ratio above 90%, the highest since 2008 Q2
- 47.5% share of new advances at a loan-to-value ratio above 75%, the highest since 2007 Q4
- 46.0% share of lending to borrowers on a high loan-to-income ratio, up 4.6 percentage points on the year
- £77.4bn value of gross mortgage advances in Q2 2026, up 11.1% on the quarter
- 31.7% annual growth in the value of gross mortgage advances
- £79.2bn value of new mortgage commitments, the lending agreed to be advanced in the coming months
- 31.2% share of owner-occupier advances going to remortgaging, the highest since 2024 Q1
- 56.1% share of owner-occupier advances for house purchase, down 1.6 percentage points on the quarter
- 27.3% first-time buyer share of owner-occupier house purchase lending, the lowest since 2024 Q1
- 8.0% buy-to-let share of gross mortgage advances, the lowest since 2024 Q3
- £19.7bn outstanding mortgage balances in arrears, the lowest since 2023 Q3
- 2,058 new possessions recorded in the quarter, down 15.6% on the year
What the report covers
The Bank of England published its Mortgage Lenders and Administrators Statistics for the second quarter of 2026 on 8 September 2026. The release is the quarterly read on UK mortgage lending, aggregated from returns supplied by around 340 regulated mortgage lenders and administrators. It covers lending flows and balances, the purpose of each new loan, risk measures such as loan-to-value and loan-to-income, and the level of arrears and possessions.
Volume is the first headline. Gross advances reached 77.4 billion pounds, up 11.1% on the quarter and 31.7% higher than a year earlier, while new commitments (lending agreed to be advanced in the coming months) rose to 79.2 billion pounds. The pipeline that was rebuilding in the first quarter has now converted into completed lending, which is the outcome our earlier report on UK mortgage lending in Q1 2026 pointed towards.
The risk profile is the second headline, and it is the more interesting one. The share of new advances at a loan-to-value ratio above 90% rose to 8.4%, the highest since the second quarter of 2008. Advances above 75% LTV reached 47.5%, the highest since the fourth quarter of 2007. Lending to borrowers on high loan-to-income multiples hit 46.0%. Buyers are getting into the market, but they are doing it with smaller deposits and larger multiples of income.
What this means for UK marketers
The most useful line here for marketers is the continued swing from buying to refinancing. Remortgaging now takes 31.2% of owner-occupier advances, up from 28.1% in the first quarter and the highest share since early 2024. That changes what the audience is searching for. A remortgage customer is comparing rates, checking product transfer options and working to a deadline set by their existing fix, not browsing property listings. The commercial implication is concrete: mortgage brokers, lenders and financial advisers should be reweighting paid and organic budget towards rate comparison and remortgage timing queries, where intent is sharp and the conversion window is short. That is the kind of deadline-driven demand that rewards Google Ads for lead generation over broad awareness spend.
At the same time the first-time buyer pool keeps thinning. First-time buyers took 27.3% of owner-occupier house purchase lending, the lowest share since the first quarter of 2024, and home movers slipped to 28.8%. Any business that sells into the moving moment (furniture, white goods, removals, broadband switching, home improvement) is fishing in a smaller pond than a year ago. Broad reach campaigns aimed at movers will get less efficient from here. Tighter targeting and harder lifetime-value maths are the sensible response.
The affordability signal is the one to handle carefully in creative. With 8.4% of new lending above 90% LTV and 46.0% of borrowers on high income multiples, the people who are buying are stretched at the point of purchase. They have committed their deposit and their monthly headroom is thin. Messaging built on payment flexibility, total cost and demonstrable value will land better than premium positioning. Set that against ONS private rent and house price figures and our earlier report on UK household costs by tenure, and the read is a market that is transacting again but doing it on tight margins.
The counterweight is that borrowers are coping. Arrears fell to 19.7 billion pounds, the lowest since the third quarter of 2023, and new possessions dropped 15.6% on the year. Plan for steady demand rather than a downturn, but segment hard by where each customer actually sits in the housing cycle.
How they got the data
The figures come from the Mortgage Lenders and Administrators Return (MLAR), a quarterly statistical release the Bank of England compiles from data reported by around 340 regulated mortgage lenders and administrators. The return captures residential lending flows and balances, the purpose and risk profile of new advances, arrears and possessions. Data is reported not seasonally adjusted, and the Bank draws comparisons against both the previous quarter and the same quarter a year earlier. Long run summary and detailed tables are published in Excel alongside the release, with series running back to the first quarter of 2007.
Risk measures include loan-to-value and loan-to-income bands, and new lending is also split by interest rate relative to the Bank of England policy rate. In this quarter 94.5% of gross advances were priced at less than 2% above Bank Rate, the lowest share since the first quarter of 2023. Because so much of the release is framed against that policy rate, the series moves with the rate cycle as well as with underlying borrower demand. Arrears are defined as a borrower failing to make contractual payments where the balance owed is at least 1.5% of the outstanding mortgage balance, or where the property is in possession.
Government · UK
Read the full report
From Bank of England · published 08/09/2026