Consumer credit shows sharpest fall on record The Bank of England said mortgage approvals numbered 52,939 in December, the highest since December 2009. However, the improvement remains slow, providing little hope for a near-term rebound in the sluggish British housing market. Analysts had forecast a reading of 53,700. Before the 2008 financial crisis, monthly mortgage approvals ran at around 90,000, but the number of home sales has slumped since then and the property market has ceased to be a major driver of consumer spending. The BoE's preferred gauge of money supply, M4 excluding intermediate other financial corporations, slumped by 0.7 percent on the month - the steepest decline since this data series began in July 2009 - and following a 0.5 percent drop in November. The numbers may add to views that the central bank may have to inject more cash into the economy that is on the brink of recession. Most economists expect the Bank of England to expand its quantitative easing programme by another £50bn next week. Ross Walker at RBS said: "There's a lot of belly-aching in the City and Westminster about how terrible these figures are, but the last thing the household sector needs at the moment is more household debt. The sooner the household sector has debt levels at more manageable levels - and we're still some years away from that - the sooner you'll have a platform for a more sustainable recovery.