In contrast, the UK observed a decline in net mortgage approvals for house purchases, dropping to a six-month low of 45,400 in August from 49,500 in July. Net approvals for remortgaging experienced a significant decrease, recording the lowest figures since July 2012, plummeting from 39,300 to 25,000 within the same period.

The aforementioned data also uncovered a considerable augmentation in the ‘effective’ interest rate on newly drawn mortgages, increasing by 16 basis points to 4.82%. Concurrently, consumer credit by individuals witnessed a surge, amounting to £1.6bn in August, up from £1.3bn in July. This was accompanied by a notable withdrawal of £0.3 billion from banks and building societies by households in August.

Moreover, August marked a considerable continuity in net repayments in market finance by private non-financial companies (PNFC), repaying £4.9bn, a substantial increase against July’s £1.6bn of net repayments. The sector of non-financial businesses, including PNFCs and public corporations, also contributed to the repayments, settling £0.9bn of banks and building society loans.

Kevin Brown, savings specialist at Scottish Friendly, commented: “Remortgaging rates have plummeted to an 11-year low in the latest figures from the Bank of England’s Money and Credit survey.

“The collapse in remortgages reflects the effects of rising bank rates on households. Many will be struggling to get a new deal, or trying to ride out a variable rate for a short while in the hope that fixed deals will get cheaper in the coming months.

“There is some evidence that this might be worthwhile as fixed rates are showing signs of falling, particularly as the Monetary Policy Committee put a pause on rate hikes last week.”

Mr Brown continued: “The concern though is how much powder households have in store to ride out what will be painfully high variable rates. In a sense this is the bank rate doing its job, but net outflows of banking deposits again suggests that households are under increasing pressure and therefore tapping into their hard-saved money.

“Having a savings cushion is really important, so any families still able to put aside cash should do everything they can to save. With big clouds over the economy it may be some time before we’re in the clear and budgets begin to be relieved.

“Average savings rates still largely won’t beat inflation so long-term saving should really be put to use through investing instead.”