Repossessions fell 24% last year compared with 2009, the Council of Mortgage Lenders has reported.
At 36,300, the number of repossessions by first-charge mortgage lenders in 2010 accounted for just 0.3% of all mortgages.
The number of mortgages ending 2010 with arrears of 2.5% or more of the outstanding balance also fell by 13% on the previous year-end, standing at 169,600 (1.49% of all loans).
During the fourth quarter, the number of repossessions was 7,900 (down 11% from 8,900 in the third quarter, and down 26% on the 10,700 in the same period a year ago). This was the fifth consecutive quarterly decline in repossessions.
This latest data was broadly in line with the CML’s most recent forecasts for 2010 of 36,000 repossessions and 175,000 arrears cases.
The CML continues to expect a 2011 outturn of 40,000 repossessions and 180,000 mortgages in arrears.
But there are warnings that repossessions and arrears could rise more sharply.
CML director general Michael Coogan said: “As we go through 2011, the number of people facing payment pressures may increase if interest rates rise, and as a result of the spending cuts that have resulted in reductions in the level of public support available. We will be monitoring developments closely.”
The Building Societies Association also expressed concerns, saying that many lenders would not allow borrowers to switch to a fixed rate product, and that one million people have unaffordable mortgages.
Comments
Stephen: Your use of one term of endearment for your private bits per post is giving the reading public the idea that you are fixated in that area of your anatomy.
WHEN... more likely IF... you can raise your conversation above waist height (in fact, lets raise the intellectual bar and make it chest height or I'll be all the t**s and n****e-ends under the sun...), then maybe your rantings will have more credence and less ridicule.
Otherwise, I respectfully suggest you concentrate on the job in hand as you seem to do so frequently ;0)
PeeBee - you speak / write so eloquently, tis a pity it is out of your arse.
In actual fact Peebee if an agent charging 1.5% is making 0.25% profit, increasing their fees to 1.75% will double profits. 2% triples the profit. That is good business.
Richard: Your support is appreciated - thank you. People can call me whatever they want - I do not huff easily but every now and then I bite back.
Ros will be mortified if she reads your post! I can assure you (before she writes a whole page statement of denial...) that I am in NO WAY connected to EAT, other than when I email her and Nat to apologise profusely if I've "overstepped the mark again"... ;0)
May I set the record straight from my part on one point you make, however. My dig at Yorkshire Agent was not that he was incapable of charging 2% - it was that he did not feel he could. Generally I find that Agents undercharge for their services - usually because there is always one who, for all the right reasons, undercuts the rest... REGARDLESS of how low they go. This form of suicidal marketing benefits no-one - not even the vendor who looks to be getting a cheap deal but forgets that if the Agent is going to lose money on the transaction whatever the outcome, then there is no need to push for a result. If YA's average Fee is, say, £2500, then increasing to 2% would net 'him' EIGHT HUNDRED AND THIRTY THREE POUNDS per sale. Heck - even meeting in the middle at 1.75 is a huge increase! The thing is, do it once and it's hardly worth the effort. But if you were to get this extra revenue FIFTY times a year - a HUNDRED even... need I say more?
When I instruct an Agent I pay a success bonus OVER their fee percentage.
I will simply say that the results speak volumes...
I have no doubt, having followed YA's posts over the past year or so that 'he' is a diligent Agent who is proud of what 'he' achieves. I just wish 'he', and many, many others, had the courage of their convictions to charge correctly for what they do. Were this the case, then the "Numbers Game" mentality would lose its grip, and Agents could concentrate on the REAL percentages that matter - % of Instructions to Contracts; and % of Sold Price to Asking Price. THESE are the figures that will make the 2%, 3%, whatever%, irrelevant...
Trust me. Been there, done that. Right in the middle of the last 'slump'. NOW IS THE TIME!
YA - you still speaking to me - bit of a k**b or not? ;0)
Stephen. I will take the compliment in the spirit it is offered. Thank you.
In your position of Grand Phallus, you must of course now initiate me into the Professional Guild of K***s in the time-honoured traditional manner...
Where do I hang the waders?
Whatever your opinion, PeeBee does always make sense and produces a logical informed argument, I often wonder if he or she, is the editor!! See his point on fees- at Yorkshire boyo, if you were good enough you would get 2%, spot on.
PeeBee - you are coming across as a knob.
Yorkshire Agent: "sometimes on this site you talk sense and are very amusing with it, othertimes I think you are a bit of a k**b." THIS obviously being one of the latter occasions, mon ami, as this time you are on the end of my chain that I am going to continue to yank!
First of all - remember that the public read this, so in order to protect the reputation of your industry you shouldn't use such phraseology. Bad form, Sir/Madam/Perfer-not-to-disclose. I may or may not be one of which you describe - but there are other ways of saying it that won't offend readers. Me - I couldn't give a shizzle what you want to call me - as long as there is a positive outcome from our debate.
See - I normally think you're pretty on the ball. Honest. Upbeat. Knowledgable. You surprised me with the content of your first post! Didn't expect that from you. Thought your name might have been hijacked, as does happen on here from time to time, having been victim myself...
Then your second post. Congratulations - surprised me again! Here's why:
"Repo's are good for the market I said for valid reasons..." I still await reasons you care to give that are "valid" in the real world, and not just to increase the turnover of properties on your books... I remember recently you stated you had over eighteen million quids' worth unsold stock. Bet you can't wait for the bailiffs - and the fees to roll in on what will amount to probably nine or ten million on the forced sale market!
"...the majority of repos are from buy to let investors anyhow. Often from people jumping on the bandwagon" BUT THEY ARE NEVERTHELESS PEOPLE!! They took a risk; it didn't come off. Their lives are affected by this. Don't just pass them off and sweep them under a carpet to justify your uninterrupted sleep pattern!
"The repos they are sometimes the only properties selling (like in 2008)..." REALLY? So there were only FORTY THOUSAND SALES during the whole of 2008? I think not...
"If a house gets sold this year at a 2004 price so be it - that is its value! " Okay - make it YOUR HOUSE! YOU sell YOURS for 2004 prices, and we will all follow suit...
"I don't charge 2% because I don't need to..." Or can't?
"...I am not in the business of over charging which in our areas 2% is too high." Not according to the corporates, obviously...
Mate, I was charging 1.75% in 1993! And hat was only on high-end stuff where I was based - and that AIN'T a million miles from your patch! Lower value units were charged at 2.5%... 3%... I even did %age fees on units at £22k selling prices that made me a Fee of £1100 plus VAT! You do the maths... I NEVER did a Fixed Fee. Every pound I charged, I had negotiated for.
Which brings me to the final point: "I'm sure you are a very succesful Audi A3 driving agent..." Nope - that's not me, sorry. What I drive is irrelevant. When I WAS an Agent I refused to drive a BMW or Mercedes - why turn up at customers properties in a car worth as much as their whole ground floor - and settled for a nice Peugeot or VW instead. You seem to have read many of my posts but fail to recall my saying on what now seems to be a thousand instances that I AM NOT AN AGENT. Was, not am. Gave it up DURING the boom - didn't bail out on the rim, like many who cut and run the second properties stuck on the market longer than the ink on the details took to dry.
Might take it up again, though. I reckon the path is pretty much clear for a new breed who actually give a damn - or easy enough to sweep the old leaves to one side...
PeeBee sometimes on this site you talk sense and are very amusing with it, othertimes I think you are a bit of a knob.
Repo's are good for the market I said for valid reasons, of course they are not good for the defaulter, the majority of repos are from buy to let investors anyhow. Often from people jumping on the bandwagon,
The repos they are sometimes the only properties selling (like in 2008) do set the new benchmarks - yes that will disappoint some vendors but gives them a reality check. If a house gets sold this year at a 2004 price so be it - that is its value!
I don't charge 2% because I don't need to, I am not in the business of over charging which in our areas 2% is too high. I offer far better service than the corporates at less money - I think that is in the consumers best interest?But thanks for the lesson in business. I'm sure you are a very succesful Audi A3 driving agent, but I'll stick with my profitable debt free business and keep doing things the same way i always have.
Yorkshire Agent: WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN SMOKING??
"Repossessions are very good for the property market..." Excuse me? Not for the defaulting buyer they ain't - who I am sure you will have worked out will no longer add to your list of applicants - unless you count the one for your rental properties of course...
"..they are correctly priced (not cheap) properties..." I guess if you can justify asking prices at pre-2004 levels then you can justify pretty much anything...
"which set new precedents for the particular areas..." YOU BET THEY DO!! Much to your prospective vendors' horror, no doubt...
"...also many corporates try and charge very high fees, 2% round here, I can comfortably make a decent return on 1.5%." Move over, Businessman of the Year - Gerald Ratner wants his crown back! So you mean to tell me that you couldn't possibly charge 2% for your services? That an average additional income of say £800-£1000 per property wouldn't come in very handy indeed?
I'll bet your opening gambit for Fee discussions is "Well... I'm afraid our standard Fee is in the region of... - HOWEVER..." I worked with a Yorkshireman once - that was HIS line of complete and utter surrender before the first shot was even loaded!
Nowt like having confidence in your worth...
Repossessions are very good for the property market, they are correctly priced (not cheap) properties which set new precedents for the particular areas, which results in vendors knowing what level they need to be if they want to achieve a sale rather than punting a property at a higher price which will never sell.
Ged Riley you sound very bitter, corporates (and I am not one) feed the survival of many independents by training new recruits correctly and getting them qualified, admittedly they can also provide apalling levels of 'target based' service which also helps the independents as they offer different types of service, also many corporates try and charge very high fees, 2% round here, I can comfortably make a decent return on 1.5%.
oh well if this happens the corporates will survive a bit longer!!