Homeowners 'repay record amounts of mortgages'

Date:Monday 6th July 2009
Author: Susanna Kavka

Homeowners in the UK repaid a record amount off their mortgages during the first quarter of 2009.

This is according to figures produced by the Bank of England, which suggested that people paid off a combined total of more than £8 billion during the three-month period.

According to the Bank, this is the highest sum homeowners have paid off mortgages since records began in 1970.

The injection of money took the total paid back by consumers to over £300 billion for the year ending on March 31st.

Before this, people had borrowed more than £300 billion extra against the rising value of their homes since 2000.

Responding to the record mortgage payoff, Simon Rubinsohn, chief economist at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, said: "This is not a surprise given the fall in house prices over the period and will have contributed in no small way to the weakness in high street spending."

Recently, Michelle Slade, a spokesperson for Moneyfacts, suggested that homeowners in the UK are starting to worry about potential increases in mortgage repayment costs.