Mortgage repayments ‘a priority’

UK homeowners are no longer cashing in on the value of their properties to fund spending, official figures show.

Quarterly Bank of England figures on housing equity withdrawal showed a second successive negative reading between July and September.

Mortgage lending as a whole has shrunk in the UK with the number of approvals from the major banks for house purchases 60% lower than a year ago, according to November figures from the British Bankers’ Association.

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Half a million to fall behind on their mortgages in 2009

The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said the number of households more than three months behind with their repayments would reach 500,000 – more than double this year’s expected figure of 210,000.

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