UK MORTGAGE lending surged in December after a dip in November, leaving UK homeowners with ‘270.6 billion worth of mortgage debt - more than 50bn more than December 2002. To put things in perspective, this equates to approx 4,500 for every man, woman and child in the UK.

Remortgaging is now driving the UK housing market, according to the CML. “The bulk of this growth has come from the remortgage market, as lending for house purchase has suffered from affordability constraints created by rising house prices.” Full story here.

However the chances of a much-tipped rise in British interest rates next month remained unclear after it emerged that the Bank of England voted decisively against a hike at its last meeting, while still fretting about consumer debt.

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