According to the latest UK Finance figures, within that total, there were 31,720 homeowner mortgages in arrears between 2.5% and 5%, which is a 3% fall on the previous quarter.
The report stated that there were 12,610 buy-to-let (BTL) mortgages in arrears of 2.5% or more of the outstanding balance in Q4 2024. This is a 3% decrease on the previous quarter.
In that figure, there were 4,810 BTL mortgages in arrears between 2.5% and 5% of the outstanding balance, a drop of 5% on the previous quarter.
Mortgages in arrears accounted for 1.06% of all homeowner mortgages outstanding and 0.65% of all BTL mortgages in the fourth quarter of the year.
UK Finance said 1,030 homeowner mortgage properties were taken into possession in Q4 2024, 12% up on the previous quarter but “significantly less than the long-term average”.
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The report noted that there were 700 BTL mortgage properties taken into possession, unchanged from the previous quarter.
UK Finance said possessions had risen since the “artificially low numbers through the pandemic”, but “remain very low by historic[al] standards”.
“The 6,440 possessions taken through 2024 was 20% lower than the average seen in the five years before 2020 and 87% below the previous peak seen in 2009,” the report stated.
Data from Pepper Advantage showed that mortgage arrears among fixed rate residential borrowers in the final three months of 2024 grew by 8.4%, the highest growth rate recorded since Q1.
