Repossessions show downward trend

Applications by mortgage lenders to repossess homes have fallen to their lowest levels for more than 10 years, figures out today showed.

The Lord Chancellor's department said the number of actions in courts in England and Wales for repossessions during the three months to the end of September had dropped to levels not seen since at least 1991.

During the third quarter, 15,546 applications were made by lenders for repossessions, usually as a result of people failing to keep up with mortgage payments, leading to 11,403 repossession orders being made.

The number of actions entered fell 13%, compared to the same period last year, while the number of orders made was down 21%.

But the Lord Chancellor's department stressed the figures did not indicate how many houses had been repossessed, as even if an order was made people often still negotiated a compromise with lenders.

Martin Ellis, an economist with Britain's biggest mortgage lender Halifax, said there had been a "firm downward trend" in the number of repossessions since 1991.

He said: "It's a reflection of the buoyant economic conditions leading to people having income growth.

"Unemployment has fallen dramatically, and interest rates have been low over the last few years, so far fewer people have got into difficulties.

"People are not mortgaging up to the hilt as they did in the late 1980s as a result of more prudent policies by lenders."