The number of mortgage possessions fell again in the third quarter of 2012, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders.
A total of 8,200 properties were taken into possession in the third quarter, down from 8,500 in the second quarter and 9,600 at the same time last year.
This marked the lowest number of properties taken into possession in a single quarter since 2007.
The number of mortgages in arrears remained stable in the third quarter. At the end of September, the total number of mortgages with arrears of 2.5% or more of the outstanding balance rose slightly to 159,100, up from 158,700 in the previous quarter but still down on the 165,300 in arrears in the same period last year.
Levels of arrears in the lower and middle bands remained consistent with the previous three months but there was a small increase (from 28,600 to 29,000) in those mortgages with the highest levels of arrears – more than 10% of the balance.
The latest figures mean that a total of 26,300 properties were taken into possession in the first three quarters of 2012, 8% fewer than in the first three quarters of last year. While the repossession rate equated to 0.13% in the buy-to-let sector, the rate was just 0.06% in the owner-occupier sector – resulting in an overall repossession rate of 0.07% in the quarter.
CML director general Paul Smee said: “Our figures show that good communication and effective arrears management by borrowers, lenders and money advisers are helping the vast majority of those with mortgage repayment problems.
“The rate of repossession has continued to fall and it’s clear that lenders want to keep people in their homes.”
Meanwhile, separate (and additional) figures show that repossessions made by second-charge lenders are also down.
The Finance & Leasing Association, the trade body for the second-charge market, said there was a 25.9% fall in the third quarter, compared with the same period in 2011.
In the third quarter, there were just 163 possessions by second-charge lenders, compared with 220 for the same period last year. However, the Q3 figure was the highest so far this year, with 157 possessions in the first quarter and 147 in the second.
Comments
It makes sense....look beyond having a dig at R&R....what will be the effect of prolonged forbearance by the banks.
1. Low tranasctions
2. Stagnating prices
3. Less Owner occupiers
4. More Multi occupancy
5. Lower living standards
6. Less consumption
7. Less growth
8. A priced out generation (maybe 2 generations)
I am not a HPc'er but i do try and see the bigger picture
Repossession effectively discharges the negative equity for the borrower at the expense of the lender. It make sense not to take back property that will only realise a % of the loan.
Keep the borrower paying what they can for as long as they can because the money effectively lost during repossession is greater than income generated by the re-lent cash. One also suspects that government don't want hoards of folk who need to be found accommodation.
Hard luck Rant, all that waiting for the crash is not doing you or the HPc brigade any favours at all.
Latest two posts spot on and AC I am afraid you are wrong.
I was working for Nationwide at that time and no way was there irresponsible borrowing or lending as far as I can recall by any lenders. 3 x salary + 1 or 3.25x joint was the norm, as were 95% mortgages and also 100%.
It was the property crash that did it - I bought my current house top of the market £111,000 on 6th July 1998 and in the September it was valued by my own staff surveyor who had done the original at £88,000
Irresponsible - no events dear boy events.
This tme it is a combination of irresponsible borrowing by both Governments and individuals. Outcome may be the same but causes are totally different.
I doubt lenders are just sitting tight like their borrowers. Post the FSA new rules introduced last June all lenders have to review all loans annually and risk rate them. This for sure applies to commercial including BTL and I think probably to domestic as well.
If they have too many poor loans on their books they are restricted in what they can lend in terms of new money. So they are bundling up loans and selling them on, factoring in effect.
Not good news for borrowers
Time to grow up, they were not forced at the end of a shot gun, this is what is wrong with us, the nanny state, the attitude its everyone else’s fault, pathetic! End the parsimonious left wing clap trap the world would be a better place.
That may no doubt all be true AC.
This time round however, 'those poor people who had made a bad decision at the behest of over effusive lenders' have had several years of record LOW interest rates gifted to them at the expense of prudent savers and pensioners.
If they can't get things in order after all that time, how much longer should they be given? All the while, keeping them in a property they can no longer afford means denying someone who could afford the payments the opportunity to buy that property. Moral hazard abounds.
Whilst I don't endorse kicking people out on the streets (they can downsize or move in with relatives if needed etc - the latter is what the pricedout generation are expected to do), I don't think a straightforward comparison with the early 90s can be made here.
They have absolutely no choice but to continue with their forbearance...
If the lenders repossessed all the people that the would normally repo this country would be screwed on a scale that would make the early nineties look like a minor blip.
I was an agent then too and can remember attending more than 10 repossessions a week in some weeks.
It was AWFUL, really horrid, all those poor people who had made a bad decision at the behest of over effusive lenders and then fallen on hard times & high interest rates. One man was so (understandably) upset he confronted me and the bailiff with a (fake) double barreled shot gun - I have never been quite so scared again in my life.
Like Dori says in Finding Nemo - "Just keep swimming... Just keep swimming!"