Homeowners step away from equity loans

During the housing boom millions of property-owners in Britain opted to unlock some of the equity in their homes by extending their mortgage and using it as a prop for extra spending such as a new car or other big-ticket consumer durables. Housing equity loans have also been made available by some lenders for older households to maintain their spending during retirement.

The Bank of England’s estimate of mortgage equity withdrawal (MEW) is intended to measure that part of consumer borrowing from mortgage lenders that is not invested in the housing market. It takes the increase in housing finance (net mortgage lending and capital grants) and subtracts households’ investment in housing (purchases of new houses and houses from other sectors, improvements to property, and the transactions costs of moving house).

But as the housing recession deepens and prices fall at an annual rate of more than ten per cent, the pattern of equity borrowing has reversed. For the second quarter in succession, people invested nearly £6 billion into housing equity - in effect thousands of people have taken the decision to scale back on equity loans and focus instead on repaying some of the outstanding mortgage debt as and when funds allow.

This change in borrowing psychology has been accompanied by tighter lending criteria being used by lenders making it more difficult and expensive for people to extend their mortgage. Just as the days of the 95% - 100% mortgage have gone for now, so the steady flow of equity release marketing coming through letter boxes has dried up completely. It is all part of the complex process of de-leveraging - an attempt by financial institutions to cut their lending and rebuild their balance sheets.

For the best part of a decade the booming housing market was a significant crutch for domestic consumer spending. Now that equity withdrawal has gone into reverse and with unemployment expected to rise by up to one million over the next year, there are two major drivers of household spending pointing firmly in a downwards direction. The collapse in equity withdrawal is evidence of greater caution among consumers but is yet more bad news for retailers.

The BBC covers the latest data in this article