The FSA’s latest Mortgage Lending Data for the United Kingdom covering the period Q1 2010 shows that the total value of outstanding loans is now £1,206 billion, almost the same as for the last quarter.

New advances in the quarter totalled £32 billion, 22% lower than in Q4, but much the same as the amount advanced in Q1 2009, while new commitments totalled £34 billion, some 6% lower than last quarter.

The share of lending for house purchase decreased from the peak reached last quarter, to account for 58% of new advances and 59% of new commitments in this latest quarter.

The proportion of new lending done at an LTV of more than 90% accounted for less than 2% of new advances for the third successive quarter.

New lending with a combination of high LTVs and high income multiples again accounted for less than 1% of new lending in Q1.

The proportion of loans to borrowers with an impaired credit history was also little changed for the third quarter in succession at 0.35%.

The number of new arrears cases continued the downward trend started last year, with a further reduction in the number in Q1 to 40,500 (-2%).

For the last three quarters the total number of accounts in arrears has also fallen, by some 4% in the latest quarter, to 362,000.

The proportion of the residential loan book that is in arrears, and hence not fully performing, also fell for the third successive quarter, to 3.23%.

The number of new possessions totalled 10,500, a decrease of 11% on last quarter and the lowest figure for two years.