Mortgages double in 6 years

Mortgages have almost doubled in six years to more than four times the average salary.

The average mortgage has gone up to £112,000, from £58,300 in 1997, as people borrow larger amounts to buy a home.

The news has raised concerns that home-owners in Britain may be taking on dangerously high levels of debt.

Experts are warning it could leave many people unable to manage even a small increase in monthly repayments - and a rise in the interest rate is predicted from next week. Figures from the British Bankers' Association today showed rising prices in most parts of the country had bumped up the price of the average mortgage to a record level.

David Hollingworth, of independent mortgage advisers London & Country Mortgages, said: "The increase in the average mortgage is a symptom of everybody getting excited about making on their house. But to buy these properties, people are having to take on a lot more debt."

Ed Stansfield, a property economist at Capital Economics, predicted that a fall in the price of houses was "a question of when not whether".