Britons borrowed against their homes at a record pace last month despite the past two Bank of England (BoE) interest rate rises.
The BoE said this morning lending secured on dwellings rose by £8.975 billion sterling in February, more than the £8.47 billion increase in January, and up a record 14.5 per cent on a year earlier.
Unsecured lending rose by £1.732 billion, down from January's revised £2.01 billion gain but stronger than the £1.6 billion increase expected by analysts.
That took the rise in total lending to £10.71 billion, or up 14.1 per cent on the year, the same as November's record rate of increase.
The figures are likely to worry BoE policymakers who are worried about the rapid rise in debt levels and raised interest rates by a quarter-point in both November and February to 4 per cent to rein in the borrowing and house price boom.
They are concerned that the greater the build-up of debt, the greater the vulnerability of consumers to shocks, raising the risk of a sharp adjustment to spending in the future.
Many analysts are now predicting the central bank could raise rates again as soon as next week as there has so far been little evidence that consumers are reacting to higher borrowing costs.
Moreover, in an indicaton the housing market is likely to remain strong for some time yet, mortgage approvals, loans agreed but not yet made, totalled 118,000 in February.