UK Mortgage Lending Statistics: Quarterly Regulatory Returns

UK mortgage lending data is collected quarterly from approximately 340 regulated lenders and administrators via the Mortgage Lending and Administration Return (MLAR). The dataset includes metrics such as the outstanding value of residential loans, gross mortgage advances, and new mortgage commitments. It is jointly published by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulatory Authority.

Use Cases

• Monitoring housing market stability based on quarterly outstanding loan values and advances.
• Analyzing credit supply trends using new mortgage commitment figures.
• Regulatory compliance assessment for lenders against industry-wide statistics.
• Economic forecasting based on time-series data of lending volumes and values.

Strengths

• Data collection is mandatory for approximately 340 regulated entities, ensuring broad coverage of the market.
• Provides specific, high-value figures such as £1,601.2 billion in outstanding residential loans for 2021 Q3.
• Time-series data allows for quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year trend analysis.

Limitations

• Column names and detailed schema are not provided in the available metadata, limiting understanding of the data structure.
• The 'last updated' date of 2026-07-08 appears to be a future date, indicating a potential metadata error or placeholder.
• Conflicting metadata exists, with one source listing an organization and another not, suggesting incomplete harmonization.

Provenance

Source

Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulatory Authority (PRA)

Collection Method

Mandatory quarterly submissions (Mortgage Lending and Administration Return - MLAR) from regulated mortgage lenders and administrators.

Time Range

2007 Q1 onward

Freshness

2026-07-08 13:32:35.268307

Geography

United Kingdom