Second charge market performs strongly in March

The value of new business in March was £93m, while the total number of loans was 2,017.

Fiona Hoyle (pictured), head of consumer and mortgage finance at the FLA, said: “The second charge mortgage market has faced significant change since transferring into the FCA’s mortgage regime in March 2016.”

She said March was the first month that new business volumes had grown since August.

The figures come after the FLA recently announced that second charge repossessions in the first quarter of the year were down by 50% compared with the same period last year.

This was after Enterprise Finance had found the second charge market grew by 4%, year-on-year to December 2016.

Hoyle said the strong performance in March could be the early signs of a return to form for the second change market and added: “Second charge mortgages are a very useful product, with consumers taking them out for a variety of reasons – including home improvements, or paying the deposit or removal costs for a son or daughter moving into their first home.”