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Consumer Home
Consumer Home
27 October 2005
Homeowners' debt problems are getting worse and worse, according to figures released yesterday.
The Department for Constitutional Affairs showed that the number of repossession orders issued in the UK over the third quarter of 2005 was up by 55 per cent on last year, and that a total of 29,991 court actions were taken against homeowners the highest figure since 1993.
Repossession proceedings generally end in a compromise solution whereby the mortgage borrower pays up or a deal is struck but analysts said that the rise in proceedings taken indicated that houses are increasingly unaffordable, perhaps due to an increase in unemployment and the slower growth of household earnings.
The five interest rate rises between November 2003 and October 2004 are also said to come into play, with the market still feeling the sting.
Shadow chancellor George Osborne said in the Times: "This worrying growth in mortgage repossessions is another sign of the bumpy ride we are facing.
"Sadly, for an increasing number of homeowners, mortgage bills are proving beyond their means..Tax rises won't have helped families struggling to make ends meet."
The Council of Mortgage Lenders expects around 10,000 homes to have been repossessed by the end of the year a far cry, at least, from the 1991 total of 75,500.
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