UK Finance has revealed that the number of interest-only mortgages has almost halved in the past six years.

There are currently 1.7 million outstanding interest-only mortgages (including partial interest-only), down 46% since 2012, when this data was first collected. The total value of the interest-only mortgage book is £250 billion, down 37% in the same period.

There were 1,293,000 pure interest-only homeowner mortgages outstanding at the end of 2017, a 14.9% fall over the last year.

There were 429,000 partial interest-only homeowner mortgages outstanding at the end of 2017, a 2.1% rise over the last year.

The number of interest-only loans at higher (over 75%) loan to values fell by 13.9% in 2017. Loans at these higher loan-to-value ratios (LTVs) now make up 13% of the total, compared to 16% in 2016 and 36% in 2012.

Separate analysis by UK Finance reveals that of the one million interest-only loans due to mature by 2020 that were live at the end of 2012, only around 200,000 now remain. The trade body said that while making contact with borrowers who are more reluctant to engage remains a challenge, there is also evidence that lenders are seeing greater success here, and the vast majority of borrowers who do engage have repayment plans in place.

Jackie Bennett, director of mortgages at UK Finance, said: “The number of outstanding interest-only loans has halved in the past six years, with a particularly steep decline in higher loan-to-value mortgages.

“Many borrowers continue to redeem ahead of schedule or switch to a repayment mortgage.

“However, there remains plenty more work to do over the coming years to ensure that those remaining borrowers who have so far been reluctant to engage have viable repayment plans in place.

“We continue to encourage all borrowers with interest-only mortgages to contact their lender as soon as possible, as the sooner they do so the more options will be available.

“UK Finance will also be developing new best practice for lenders in this area, to reflect the changing regulatory landscape and help the industry engage successfully with more borrowers.”