Repossession levels have been rising this year

A recent report has shown that over the course of this year repossession levels in the UK have been rising, as more and more struggling homeowners have been forced out of their homes after being unable to keep up with repayments due to increased living costs, higher bills, and expensive borrowing costs.

Over the past year the number of people losing their homes is said to have soared by around 70%. With the nation now heading into recession industry experts believe that the situation is likely to get even worse. However, it is hoped that the drastic interest rate cuts that have taken the base rate down to 3% will go some way towards alleviating the situation by increasing affordability for some homeowners.

Between April and June of this year around 120 homeowners a day were losing their homes because they were unable to meet their mortgage repayments. Over eleven thousand people lost their homes over the quarter, compared to 6476 in the same quarter of the previous year. The data came from the Financial Services Authority.

An official from the housing charity Shelter said: ‘These figures are not only shocking and worse than expected, they highlight the crippling severity of the credit crunch on ordinary home-owners.’

A Lib Dem spokesperson said: ‘The collapsing housing bubble will produce large numbers of casualties, as people fall into arrears unable to sustain mortgage payments. If conditions deteriorate further, the current stream of repossessions will become a torrent.’