Home repossessions fall in Q4

Published 11th Feb 2010

Fewer Britons had their homes repossessed in the final three months of 2009 and there was a sharp drop in the number of court orders for properties to be seized, data showed Thursday.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders said 10,200 homes were repossessed by lenders in the three months to December, 13 percent fewer than the previous quarter and 2 percent lower than a year earlier.

There were 16,928 orders for home repossession according to seasonally adjusted data in the October to December period, 15 percent lower than the three months to September.

Separate figures from the Ministry of Justice showed courts in England and Wales issued 42 percent fewer mortgage possession orders in the final quarter of 2009 compared with a year earlier.

Given signs of stabilisation in the labour market and expectations that interest rates will stay low for some time, the CML said its forecast of 53,000 repossessions in 2010 now looked too pessimistic. But it warned that the outlook remained uncertain.

"The fact that mortgage arrears and possessions did not rise as much as we feared in 2009 is testament to the effect of low interest rates, and a great deal of concerted effort by lenders, government and the advice sector," said CML Director General Michael Coogan.

"We are not out of the woods yet -- 2010 will still be a challenging year for many borrowers, and some households will inevitably find their finances being squeezed if and when interest rates do eventually rise."

Source: ' Reuters '

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