30 June 06 - UK Mortgages top £1,000 billion for the first time.

The total sum owed in mortgages topped £1,000 billion for the first time in May, according to figures from the Bank of England. An extra £9.3 billion was borrowed to buy homes in May, increasing outstanding mortgage debt to £1.007 trillion. This increase was above the increase in April and the previous six-month average.

The twelve-month growth rate increased by 0.1 percentage point to 10.9%. The number of loans approved for house purchase (at 117,000) was 11,000 higher than in April. The number of approvals for remortgaging was also higher (by 7,000), but approvals for other purposes were in line with April (72,000).

The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) played down the significance of the £1 trillion. It pointed out that part of the increase was due to the spread of home ownership, which has risen10% to 70% of the population in the past 20 years. Rising prices also mean that the value of property far outstrips people's debt levels. Also, the value of unmortgaged property across the UK is much higher at about £3.6 trillion.

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