UK's mortgage market in graphics

£112,000 : Average new mortgage for house purchase £40,000 : Average income of new mortgage holders 25% (£37,000) : Average deposit 14.6% : Average interest payment as proportion of income Source: CML December figures

The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee has kept the Bank rate at 0.5%.

Here is a snapshot of the current state of the UK mortgage market in graphics, including a table showing which lenders have decided to pass on recent Bank rate reductions to variable rate mortgage holders.

Libor - the London Interbank Offered Rate - is key to the calculation of mortgage costs. It is the rate banks charge when they lend money to each other.

If the rate is high, this generally means that the interest rate charged on new home loans is more likely to be high. Some variable or tracker mortgages are linked to Libor rather than Bank rate.

During the credit crunch, with banks uneasy about lending to each other, the gap between the Libor and bank rates grew wider.

Savers have also been affected by the recent cuts in interest rates, with their returns on deposits falling.

Here are some key facts on the situation for savers:

• £1.5 trillion : Total UK consumer borrowing

• £1.28 trillion : Total UK consumer saving (including cash ISAs)
• 0.81% : Average interest rate for savers in all bank and building society instant access accounts
• 21% : Share of savings held by building societies
• 70% : Share of savings in banks
• 9% : Share of savings with National Savings and Investments

Source: Building Societies Association / Bank of England. Figures from December 2008.

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