Home repossessions expected to rise
Updated on 12 November 2009
Figures are due to show whether the UK is heading for its highest level of home repossessions for 16 years.
A total of 24,200 people lost their homes after falling behind with their mortgage during the first half of 2009, the highest figure since 1996, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders.
Repossession numbers showed a surprise dip during the second quarter of the year, but numbers are expected to begin climbing again due to rising unemployment.
However, it looks unlikely that the CML's forecast that 65,000 people will have their home repossessed this year - a level last seen in 1992 - will be met.
More than 20,000 people would have to lose their property during each of the final two quarters of the year for the predicted level to be reached - nearly double the number seen during each of the first two quarters of the year.
The CML has already reduced its forecast for repossessions for 2009 from 75,000 due to a combination of low interest rates, Government initiatives to help people struggling with their mortgage and increased forbearance on the part of lenders.
The group is widely expected to revise it down again when it also publishes its predictions for the mortgage and housing markets for next year, alongside mortgage repossession and arrears figures for the third quarter.
The Government has launched a raft of schemes to help struggling homeowners, including the Mortgage Rescue Scheme, under which people can sell some or all of their home to a social landlord and rent it back, as well as the Homeowner Mortgage Support scheme, which enables people to defer paying interest on up to 70% of their mortgage for up to two years.
It also introduced a pre-action protocol in November last year, under which the courts can grant a repossession order only if all alternative measures to keep people in their homes have failed.
But the Mortgage Rescue Scheme has come in for heavy criticism after it had helped only 14 families by the end of June.
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