The great shakeout in the UK mortgage market!
The UK mortgage market has seen a massive reduction in activity levels over the last two years and now we are starting to see a massive increase in bad debts, repossessions and alleged mortgage fraud. It seems that in the good times the UK mortgage market was nothing but a cash cow with very little risk and significant profits to be made. However, now that the UK economy has turned, property prices have fallen and homeowners are struggling to fulfil their obligations the situation has turned about face.
While many economists will talk about peaks and troughs and bull and bear markets, the UK mortgage market has gone from the crazy highs seen just two years ago to the lows of 2009. We have seen billions upon billions of pounds wiped off the value of the UK property market, billions upon billions of pounds written off as bad debts and intense focus on the regulatory network in the UK. In the boom times any problems were well hidden under the surface but now that profits have all but disappeared and bad debts are up, the pressure is on the UK mortgage market.
Will UK mortgage lenders ever learn?
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