LONDON (Reuters) - Lenders passed on most of the Bank of England's December rate cut to their 'standard variable' and 'tracker' mortgage rates, data from the central bank showed on Monday.

The Bank cut its key interest rate by one percentage point to two percent in December, the lowest level since the early 1950s, and lowered rates further to a historic 1.5 percent in January.

Banks and building societies have been under heavy political pressure to pass on these rate cuts in full to home-owners and the data showed they largely did.

Lenders' standard variable rate, which form the basis for many variable-rate mortgages, fell by an average of 0.96 percentage points to 5.38 percent in December -- the lowest level since November 2003.

Despite the falling cost of mortgages, the housing market remains in steady decline -- with knock-on effects for consumer spending -- because of lenders' reluctance to approve mortgages for all but the most creditworthy of borrowers.

Lenders' tracker rates, which typically follow Bank of England rate moves exactly, fell by an average of 0.83 percentage points to 4.95 percent, as borrowers fell foul of clauses that allowed some lenders not to pass on BoE rate cuts once interest rates fell below a certain level.

Two-year fixed-rate mortgages for home-buyers with at least a 25 percent deposit, one of the most popular types of mortgage, saw a 0.31 percentage point drop in the interest rate to 4.79 percent, the lowest since April 2006.

(Reporting by David Milliken; editing by Patrick Graham)