The Bank of England and Financial Conduct Authority have joined together to release the latest Mortgage Lenders and Administrators Statistics for the United Kingdom covering the third quarter of 2014.

The data, which is published quarterly, was compiled from the Mortgage Lenders & Administrators Return, provided by regulated firms.

The overall outstanding residential loan amounts value was £1,356 billion in the third quarter, up by 1.8 per cent on the same time last year and half a per cent on the previous quarter this year.

£55.9 billion gross advances were recorded in Q3, which is the highest amount advanced in a third quarter since 2008. The proportion of gross advances at fixed rates increased for the eighth consecutive quarter to 82.6 per cent.

The overall interest rate of gross advances rose from 3.26 per cent in Q2 to 3.31 per cent.

First time buyers saw the value of residential loans advanced to them increase to over £12 billion, the highest quarterly amount since 2007 Q3.

Buy to let lending was on the up too, increasing from £5.9 billion last year to £8 billion, the highest quarterly amount since 2008.

Loans in arrears have also taken a slight decrease in performance for the first time since 2012.

New cases taken into possession totalled 5,157 in Q3 2014, a 10 per cent reduction from the last quarter and the stock of possession cases remaining unsold also decreased to 9,053, the lowest since the series began in 2007.