The Bank of England has released its quarterly mortgage lenders and administrators (MLAR) statistics showing that mortgage lending was lethargic in the final quarter of 2014. According to the report, gross advances of £51.3bn were recorded in Q4 2014, a drop of 0.2% when compared with Q4 2013 and 8.1% lower than Q3 2014. Net advances decreased from £9bn in Q4 2013 to £8.1bn in Q4 2014. New commitments decreased from £53.6bn in Q3 2014 to £46.3bn in Q4 2014. This was also a decrease of 8.0% compared with Q4 2013.

The proportion of gross advances at fixed rates decreased for the first time in nine quarters from 82.6% in Q3 2014 to 82.2% in Q4 2014. The proportion of balances outstanding on fixed rate loans has increased by 2% points since Q3 2014 to 41.3%.

The average interest rate across all advances decreased by 5bps in Q4 2014 to 3.26%. This is only 2bps higher than the lowest interest rate of 3.24% in Q1 2014.