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The Financial Services Authority (FSA) said that house repossessions in the third quarter of 2009 were in line with the year´s average, although the figure rose 3% to 13,987.
Despite the increase, the FSA said the figure was 6% the figure for the first quarter of the year, and the drop is said to have been driven by interest rate cuts at the start of the year, which made mortgages more affordable, and increased Government help for borrowers who were struggling.
Recent figures have shown that Britons have now reduced their outstanding mortgage debt by £4.9bn during the third quarter of 2009.
For the sixth quarter in a row, the number of people unlocked from their homes was negative, as homeowners concentrated on paying back their debts during the fall in house prices and the recession.
The rate at which people are paying down mortgages has slowed down for the third consecutive quarter, but in the first and second quarters of the year, homeowners reduced their mortgage debt by nearly £7bn each quarter.
Repayments follow a decade in which homeowners have continually withdrawn equity from their homes, as they have seen this as being a cheap way to fund purchases or pay off other debts.
During 2007, in the period just before house prices reached their peak, homeowners withdrew £13.8bn from their properties, which equals just over 6% of average post-tax household income, and the repayments in the last quarter of 2009 equate to 2% of post-tax income.
The injection of housing equity was thought to be result of people hoping to improve their personal balance sheets in the light of problems in the UK economy, and low interest rates on savings have made it more attractive for many people to use any spare funds they have to reduce mortgages.
Housing equity withdrawal has been used significantly to support consumer spending in recent years, but the quick change from withdrawals up to the first quarter of 2008 to the injection of equity over the past six quarters has added to the constraints on consumer spending.
Britons are also increasingly turning away from personal loans and credit cards, and figures show that the amount of unsecured debt has reduced in the past 12 months. Borrowing money to buy homes reached its highest level last month for two years, but the value of new personal loans in November fell by 43.7% compared to the same month last year.
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Capping interest rates will not stop irresponsible lending to people who can ill-afford a loan in the first place.
The credit card company, MBNA, has been made to pay out €18m back to Irish customers due to overcharging.
Rules which were made to protect homeowners against having their homes repossessed are being ignored by lenders, according to a recent report.
So-called logbook loans have taken over from payday loans in many regions of the UK, when cash is offered in return for the borrower signing over their car´s logbook.
