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Home repossessions rise 24% to 15-year highHouse repossession actions have soared to the highest level since the last recession, reflecting the increased burden placed on British borrowers as the cost of living soars. The number of mortgage repossession orders posted by courts in England and Wales between April and June this year rose by 24 per cent to 28,658, compared to the second quarter last year. Todays figures are four per cent higher than the first three months of 2008 and are level with the number of orders made in 1992 during the last UK recession. Official data shows that the mortgage repossession claims during the second quarter rose by 17 per cent to 39,078 on last year, though numbers are flat on the first three months of the year. Not all repossession actions issued by lenders result in a borrower losing their home, but the Ministry of Justice figures also reflect repossession actions taken by "second charge" lenders, which offer loans secured on a property to homeowners who already have a mortgage. Last week, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) reported a 48 per cent rise in the number of repossessions during the first six months of 2008, with lenders taking ownership of 6,100 more homes this year than in 2007. The CML forecasts that repossessions will hit 45,000 by the end of the year, while mortgage arrears will rise to 170,000. However, Shelter, the housing charity, expects repossessions to be much worse, with 9,000 more people forecast to lose their houses at the hands of "secondcharge" lenders. The CML figures to not include second charge lender data, and therefore discount a market that is worth more than £11 billion a year. One in six homeowners are facing negative equity this year as house prices continue to plunge, and at least 70,000 people in the UK have mortgage debt higher than the value of their houses. Earlier this week, it emerged that 20,100 more Britons were claiming unemployment benefit in July, the largest monthly rise since the end of the UKs last recession in 1992. The Times Online |
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