Housing repossessions set to hit 75,000 in 2009
The Council of Mortgage Lenders in the UK has today come forward with a forecast that housing repossessions in the UK will hit a massive 75,000 in 2009. This appears to be confirmation of earlier speculation about the level of repossessions in 2009 and appears to blow open the government's claim to be tackling the problem with its recent mortgage relief program. If these figures are correct they would take the UK property market down to levels not seen since the 1990s although the situation could get very much worse than that seen before the turn of the century.
It is forecast that upwards of 500,000 people are now unable to support their mortgage payments and we have not even reached the bottom of the market yet. There is concern that this figure of 500,000 people could increase substantially over the next two years and not only stifle any potential economic recovery next year before many years to come.
It would appear just as some people were starting to believe the mortgage market had turned, the situation could actually get much worse and push more and more people into serious debt. Quite where it will all end remains to be seen.
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