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Second charge sees busiest month since 2008 as strong 2019 continues

Christina Hoghton
Written By:
Christina Hoghton
Posted:
Updated:
27/02/2024

The mortgages – also known as secured loans – enable borrowers to raise funds in addition to their existing mortgage

The second charge market continued its strong start to the year with its highest level of activity in more than 10 years in March.

According to data from the Finance and Leasing Association (FLA) 2,392 new second charge loans were taken out in March, the most since October 2008.

This was up 31 per cent on March last year and a similar uptick was seen in the value of new business, as that rose 25 per cent to hit £108m for the month.

The data rounds-up a strong first three months of 2019 for the second charge market with January new deals up 18 per cent and the value of business up 12 per cent.

February witnessed even stronger growth, with new agreements rising by 24 per cent and the value of these growing 20 per cent compared to the same month last year.

Strong first quarter

Overall, January to March saw 6,500 deals completed worth £292m, up 25 per cent and 19 per cent respectively on the same period in 2018.

The trend also shows through in the annual figures with 24,812 agreements, up 13 per cent, worth £1.116bn, up nine per cent, completed in the 12 months to March.

FLA head of consumer and mortgage finance Fiona Hoyle, said: “In March, the second charge mortgage market reported its highest level of monthly new business volumes since October 2008.

“It is a competitive and innovative market for consumers, with a growing number of broker partners.”

Regulator investigation

Last month, The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said it would be investigating parts of the second charge and subprime credit markets, as it believes they are designed to benefit from consumers going into arrears.

In the announcement the FCA highlighted its data monitoring consumers in arrears, numbers on standard variable rates and complaints, but has yet to publish evidence of this.