Moneyfacts: Mortgages fuelling debt crisis

According to the financial comparison website, average house prices – and therefore monthly mortgage repayments – have trebled in the past decade, while earnings have only doubled.

“The net effect is that mortgage payments take a much bigger chunk of our income than they did in 1996,” said Andrew Hagger, head of news and press at Moneyfacts.

“This statistic looks gloomy enough in its own right, but when you factor in additional increased expenses such as higher council tax and utility bills, it is no surprise that the UK is now faced with the current personal debt crisis.”

His warning comes as other experts urge consumers to take on a debt management plan as Britons struggle to cope with soaring bills.

Worse, Moneyfacts expects house prices to increase by 40 per cent in the next four years due to a constrained housing supply, adding more to consumer debt.