Britons less inclined to pay down mortgage debt

Britons were less inclined to use savings to pay down mortgage debt in the third quarter, data showed on Monday, adding to signs of improving consumer confidence as house prices rise and the job market recovers. Homeowners put 10.4 billion pounds of equity into their homes in the quarter, the Bank of England figures showed - more than two billion pounds less than in the previous quarter and the lowest since the fourth quarter of 2009. Borrowing against the rising value of property was a key driver of the consumer boom of the last decade, and while the Bank of England may welcome a return of that "feelgood" factor, it will be wary of a recovery that is heavily reliant on household spending and cheap credit. While inflation in the broader economy has come within a whisker of the BoE's 2 percent target, house prices are rising six times as fast in the capital and almost four times as fast nationwide.

via Business News - Yahoo Finance http://finance.yahoo.com/news/britons-less-inclined-pay-down-115112965.html