Bradford & Bingley reveals upsurge in mortgage arrears
Revealing a loss of £119.5 million for the first six months of the financial year, government owned Bradford & Bingley saw mortgage arrears more than double from 2.48% to 5.88%. These figures relate to mortgage agreements with at least three month in overdue payments and while the figure is disappointing to say the least it looks as though it could get worse before it gets better.
It is worth remembering that Bradford & Bingley was the largest lender to the buy to let market, an area of the property sector which in some places has fallen like a pack of cards. In the boom times many landlords used existing properties as collateral for mortgages on new properties and now that some tenants have fallen behind with rent, this has impacted upon the ability of landlords to cover their mortgage payments.
In normal circumstances landlords would be forced to sell off properties to cover payments, but property prices have fallen so far in many areas that ultimately many landlords would struggle to cover outstanding payments due on their properties. As a consequence companies such as Bradford & Bingley, which were very active in the UK buy to let market, are struggling at the moment and without UK government (and taxpayer) assistance would probably have ceased trading some time ago.
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