UK consumer borrowing rises by most since November 2023

British consumer borrowing rose by the most in two years in November, Bank of England data showed on Monday, suggesting household demand remained solid ahead of finance minister Rachel Reeves’ budget.

Consumer borrowing grew by a net 2.08 billion pounds ($2.79 billion) during the month, the most since November 2023 and more than any forecast in a Reuters poll of economists.

The increase was above October’s 1.713 billion-pound rise, taking the annual rate of consumer credit growth to 8.1%, the fastest since the 12 months to May 2024.

“Today’s release adds to the evidence that speculation about tax rises ahead of November’s Budget didn’t influence households’ spending decisions too much,” Alex Kerr, UK economist at Capital Economics, said.

“This also suggests there isn’t much scope for a pick-up in consumer spending in 2026.”

Reeves announced 26 billion pounds in tax rises in her annual budget on November 26 but delayed the introduction of most of the increases.

The BoE said the number of mortgages approved by British lenders for house purchase fell to 64,530 in November from 65,010 in October. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast that there would be 64,400 mortgage approvals in November.

UK house price growth weakest since April 2024

British house prices unexpectedly fell by 0.4% in December to finish 2025 just 0.6% higher than the year before, the weakest annual growth since April 2024, monthly figures from mortgage lender Nationwide Building Society showed.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast a 0.1% monthly rise to leave prices 1.2% higher than in December 2024, slowing from a 1.8% annual price rise in November.

Nationwide Chief Economist Robert Gardner said the slowdown in the year-on-year growth rate partly reflected strong price gains in December 2024 as well as the December 2025 price fall, and that the number of mortgages approved remained similar to levels before the COVID-19 pandemic.

“With price growth well below the rate of earnings growth and a steady decline in mortgage rates, affordability constraints eased somewhat, helping to underpin buyer demand,” he added.