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Second charge lending drops to £106m in April
The volume of second charge lending fell to £106m in April, down from £129.4m in March, but the drop is thought to be “isolated”.
According to the latest Secured Loans Index from Loans Warehouse, the drop was attributed to April only having 18 working days, compared to the 23 working days.
It added that May was “expected to show a significant rise”.
The report added that the total lending for the year came to £450m.
Completions fell by around 18 per cent month-on-month to 2,308, in line with the decrease in lending.
Consolidation was the most popular use for a second charge loan at 54.5 per cent, followed by consolidation and home improvements at around 23 per cent.
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Home improvements accounted for around 18 per cent of lending.
The average completion time, from submissions to completion, stood at 12.81 days, which is 0.81 days faster than March. The average term was 14.1 years.
Approximately 86 per cent of the lending was below 85 per cent loan to value (LTV), with the remaining above 85 per cent LTV.
The report added that several lenders had announced “significant rate reductions” and were reintroducing longer fixed term products.