IRRV Alert - week ending 9th October 2020
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Household Debt: Key Economic Indicators (9 October 2020)
Household Debt: Key Economic Indicators
Research Briefing
Published Friday, 09 October, 2020
Household debt: Data on the latest household debt statistics, including net lending, mortgage interest rates and insolvencies.
Documents to download
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Household Debt: Key Economic Indicators (84 KB, PDF)
Download full reportDownload ‘Household Debt: Key Economic Indicators’ report (84 KB, PDF)
This document focusses on standard official sources. For more timely data on the economy, see the Library briefing Coronavirus: Latest economic data.
Household debt as a % of disposable income
Household debt peaked in Q2 2008 at 150.1% of household disposable income. It then declined to 126.5% by late 2015.
Growth in household debt levels accelerated from early 2016, so that the debt-to-income ratio rose again to 131.5% by mid-2017. In Q2 2020 it was 128.5%.
Statistical note: The household debt and income source data were changed in May 2019. Previously debt and income totals included the non-profit sector (mostly charities and universities). The new data reflects only individuals in the household sector. The overall historical trends are unchanged. For more see Box 1 in the Library paper on household debt.
Current average mortgage interest rates
The average Standard Variable Rate (SVR) was 3.5% in September 2020, down 0.79% points on a year ago.
The average 2-year fixed mortgage rate was 1.74% in September 2020, up 0.19% on a year ago.
Individual insolvencies, England and Wales
There were 32,153 individual insolvencies in England and Wales in Q2 2020, up by 3,406 on the previous quarter. This is the largest increase since the current series began in 2010.
The Q2 2020 level is 6.9% more than the level in Q2 2019.
In Scotland, there were 2,082 individual insolvencies in Q2 2020, 41% lower than a year before.
Related Links
- ONS, UK Economic Accounts
- Bank of England, Statistical database
- Insolvency Service, Insolvency Statistics
- Commons Library, Household debt: impact on the economy
Documents to download
-
Household Debt: Key Economic Indicators (84 KB, PDF)
Download full reportDownload ‘Household Debt: Key Economic Indicators’ report (84 KB, PDF)