Property repossession climbs 26% in one year

It seems that more UK mortgage lenders are having to repossess homes, as people struggle to keep up with their payments. In a recent survey carried out by e.surv Chartered Surveyors, they have found sustained growth in valuations on repossessed property for almost two years now. This trend has been accelerating at a fast rate since the beginning of 2008.

According to e.surv, repossession valuations have climbed 26% in the year up to May 2008. When you look at these figures, it seems as if this trend has no signs of stopping any time soon. Richard Sexton, who is the business development director over at e.surv, has said “We have seen a sustained and steady growth in repo valuation volumes for almost 2 years now, and there has been a clear acceleration since January 2008.”

If you thought that things were bad now, it seems that this is just the start of it. According to The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), they believe that repossession numbers will rise to around 45,000 in 2008. Sexton has said “This trend will certainly continue in 2008, and if the economy deteriorates then it could take two and a half years for the cycle to feed through before we see numbers coming down again.”

If this is true, Sexton has warned us that a full-scale recession could send repossession levels back to the kind of highs that we saw in the early 1990’s. He has given us a little hope by saying that, pro-active arrears and possessions management from a number of lenders should help dampen the impact on homeowners. Let us hope that he is right, we do not want to go back to how things were in the early 90’s.

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