Consumer credit rose at its slowest rate since August 2001 during November, increasing speculation the High Street boom cooled in the run up to Christmas, figures showed today.

The Bank of England said unsecured net lending increased by £1.4 billion during the month, down from £1.76 billion in October.

The figures come the day after the CBI showed pre-Christmas sales had dipped for the first time in a decade, with three per cent more firms reporting a fall in year-on-year sales in the fortnight to December 18 than those who said they were up.

But while consumer credit slowed, mortgage lending remained strong with the bank reporting a £7.4 billion increase in lending, the second highest figure on record.

Mortgage approvals were also buoyant with 121,000 new loans worth £22.36 billion approved, down slightly from 124,000 in October but above the recent three-month average of 118,000.

John Butler, an economist at HSBC, said: "The latest personal borrowing data from the Bank of England does seem to provide some tentative evidence that consumers appetite for debt is easing, albeit from very high levels.

"Moreover, today's data supports other recent data that suggests retail spending was modest pre-Christmas but that the housing market remains buoyant."

He added that with mortgage approvals remaining high, annual house price inflation could stay at around 25 per cent for the next few months.

The low rise in consumer credit came despite a strong month for borrowing through credit cards, loans and hire purchase schemes.

During November, consumers took on £16.35 billion of unsecured debt, up from £16.19 billion in October, but strong repayments meant the overall rise in outstanding debt was just £1.4 billion.

Within this figure, credit card lending reached £10.1 billion, up from £9.84 in October.

After repayments, it increased by £639 million from £503 million the previous month but down on September's figure of £742 million and August's £804 million.