Home repossessions soar 92% in a year
The number of people who lost their homes nearly doubled during the third quarter of last year, the City watchdog said today.
Missed payments: The number falling behind on their moprtgage is rising
A total of 13,161 properties were repossessed during the three months to the end of September - 92% more than during the same period of 2007, according to the Financial Services Authority.
The number of homeowners who were behind with their mortgage repayments also jumped to 340,000, a rise of 24% during the year and 10% higher than in the previous quarter.
The FSA said the number of people who have run up arrears of more than 1.5% of their outstanding mortgage debt, has been slowly rising during the previous five quarters, increasing by around 4% each quarter.
But it said the 10% jump seen in the three months to the end of September was 'more significant'.
A further 30,000 people got into arrears during the third quarter, and 2.92% of all mortgage holders are now behind with their repayments. Among those who are in arrears, people are managing to pay an average of 42% of their normal mortgage payment each month.
But despite the steep jump in repossession levels, the number of homes that were sold by lenders rose only slightly to 7,687, compared with 7,000 in the second quarter.
As a result, the number of repossessed homes that remained unsold jumped dramatically during the third quarter to 27,123 - 27% more than during the previous three months and 111% up on the same period of 2007.
The figures are in line with those reported by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) in November for the same period. These showed that 11,300 homes were repossessed by CML members during the third quarter of 2008 - 12% more than in the second quarter - and the number of borrowers who were more than three months in arrears rose by 8% to 168,000, although the CML measures arrears levels slightly differently to the FSA.
Other FSA figures on the mortgage market released today were also gloomy, with the total value of outstanding home loans edging ahead by just 0.5% during the third quarter compared with the previous one to £1.194 trillion.
New advances during the period totalled £61bn, half the peak of £102bn reached during the third quarter of 2007, and 15% lower than during the previous three months.
Net lending, which strips out redemptions and repayments, fell by 36% during the three months and 65% year-on-year to £14bn.
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