Startlingly, 430,000 may not have even considered how they will repay the capital when it comes due.

However, regulators fear some normal home buyers have taken out interest only loans as they are attracted by the low monthly payments, but do not understand the full implications when the loan expires – thinking that they own the house outright, but in fact ending up with a large debt.

The CML said that a quarter of this reduction was down to natural attrition as loans matured and were repaid.

There were also 460,000 mortgages at the end of 2014 that were partly interest-only – which is 160,000 fewer than a year earlier.

But the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has warned we could see three waves of defaults in the near future, given the historic sales of interest-only mortgages – the first in 2017/18, the second in 2027/28 and the third in 2032.

A quarter of the reduction is the result of loans reaching maturity and being redeemed while a further 40 per cent is down to proactive borrowers paying back their loan before it matures, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said. This suggests that many borrowers are taking action before problems arise, by successfully switching to a repayment loan.

Of those loans that have matured, fewer than 16,000 have not yet been repaid. For example, they may have a savings account set to mature on a particular date. Clearly, the vast majority of borrowers are taking a look at their repayment strategy and ensuring they have plans in place to repay their mortgage at the end of the term.

Banks managed to contact all those borrowers whose loans were due to expire by the 2020, by May past year , and by the end of December contacted another 427,000 whose loans had longer to run to discuss repayment plans.

But getting responses from those borrowers is still a challenge, the CML said. Around 27% of those contacted whose mortgages are due to mature between 2021 and 2028 responded but only a disappointing 2% of those whose mortgages are not due to mature until after 2028 did.

The CML says that where lenders succeeded in getting customers to respond, 86 per cent of those borrowers had a repayment strategy in place and those who did not “appeared responsive”.

The CML said that while the latest statistics were good news, there was no room for complacency and that members are continuing to think about the options for customers who may not be able to repay their mortgages, including more partnering with third-part advice providers, including equity release firms and product innovations that may help some borrowers.