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Mortgage debt of over £1 trillion ‘spells trouble’
Mortgage debt in the UK has risen to over £1 trillion, according to the Bank of England (BOE). An extra £9.3bn was taken out to purchase property in May, taking the total outstanding national mortgage debt to £1,007 trillion. The value of unmortgaged property was put at £3.6 trillion.
According to Nationwide the average property costs almost £166,000, with mortgage repayments accounting for 42% of average take home pay.
The BOE figures showed that Britons have a further £192bn outstanding on credit cards, so that total personal debt now stands at £1.199 trillion.
“These are stupendous figures and they tell me that we’re a nation in hock up to our eyes,” said financial expert Martin Cunningham. “The £1 trillion figure spells trouble in my book.”