LONDON (Reuters) - Britons put more than eight billion pounds of equity into their homes in the first three months of the year as record low interest rates and a deteriorating economy encouraged homeowners to pay down debt.

Bank of England figures show Britons have injected equity into their homes for the past four quarters, reversing the past decade's trend of home equity withdrawal to fund other spending.

The 8.141 billion pound equity injection in the first quarter is the biggest since Bank of England records began in 1970, and exceeds the downwardly revised 7.763 billion pounds injected in the final three months of last year.