The Guardian newspaper reports that mortgage lender, Bradford & Bingley has admitted that home repossessions have increased by 50% since the first half of the year. This is the clearest indication yet of the problem facing the UK housing market as the number of homes being repossessed continues to increase. Read the full Guardian article.
State-owned Bradford & Bingley today bucked an improving national trend in home repossessions by admitting it had seized more properties from its defaulting mortgage customers in the first half of this year.
The near 50% rise in the number of repossessed homes on B&B’s books came as new figures showed government pressure on lenders to go easy on struggling homeowners had contributed to a drop in foreclosures.
The Council for Mortgage Lenders said 11,400 properties were repossessed in the three months to June, a drop of 10% on the previous quarter but up from 10,000 in the second quarter of 2008. Falling interest rates eased the pressure on home-loan payments, with the CML reporting only a small increase in customers missing one or two monthly repayments.
At B&B Richard Banks, managing director, warned that repossessions would continue to rise until the end of this year, reflecting the sharp rise in the number of customers who began falling into difficulty in 2008. Banks joined B&B in May on a salary of £250,000 a year.
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