Lending in the second charge space decreased for a fourth consecutive month in December, new figures from Loans Warehouse have indicated.

According to the latest Loans Warehouse Secured Loan Index, second charge lending totalled £101.5m in the final month of 2022, a figure down £34m from November’s total.

The total number of loan completions also slipped to 2,150 in December, a decrease of 26% compared to the previous month.

Despite this recent fall in second charge activity, however, the figures reported directly to Loans Warehouse by second charge lenders still indicated that total lending for 2022 finished at £1.71bn, a year-on-year increase of 45.3%.

“The percentage of lending above 85% LTV increased in the past month, up just shy of 2% on November 2022, the highest increase since July 2022,” Loans Warehouse managing director, Matt Tristram, said.

“Completion time from submission has remained steady throughout the month, currently standing at 18.9 days.”

The monthly Secured Loan Index published by Loans Warehouse uses information from several second charge lenders across the UK, including Pepper Money, Oplo, United Trust Bank, Together Money, Norton Home Loans, Equifinance, Evolution Money and Selina Finance.

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