Mortgage activity has been building through the year, helped by increasing numbers of first-time buyers. We estimate gross mortgage lending in November was £23.1 billion, 9 per cent higher than a year earlier, with 60 per cent of all new lending provided by High Street banks.

Credit card spending increased in November, raising the annual growth in outstanding credit to 7.5 per cent. This growth reflects how cards are increasingly becoming consumers' preferred way of borrowing, rather than personal loans or overdrafts.

Business borrowing has continued to moderate through 2017, with the major sectors of manufacturing, wholesale and retail business showing only modest annual growth, while construction and property-related sectors have contracted their bank borrowing over the year.