With recession in the air, lenders are closed for new business and trying to make good their losses. Duncan Greenwood reports
Recession is now a virtual certainty and already the UK housing market is in the doldrums. Since October 2007 average house prices have, according to Nationwide, fallen by 14.6%, and many commentators are predicting further declines by as much as 15% over the next 12 months. The Council of Mortgage Lenders’ statistics show that house purchase debt, remortgage debt and buy-to-let debt has risen by 90%, 365% and 1,350% respectively in the last nine years. As a result, there is every prospect that repossessions will soon exceed the numbers we saw during the 1990s property slump.
