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Housing Market

Repossessions fall to historic low

Record low interest rates have helped homeowners keep on top of their mortgage payments.

PROPERTYdrum

repossession imageRepossessions in the UK dropped to the lowest level since records began in 2008 during the second quarter of 2015, the latest data shows.

The figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) reveals that the repossession rate in the last quarter was just 0.02 per cent, which is equivalent to just one in 5,000 mortgages and the data from the CML revealed that arrears also continued to drop.

Record low interest rates were a major factor in helping homeowners stay on top of their mortgage payments in the second quarter of the year, along with falling unemployment and a strengthening domestic economy.

In total, there were 2,500 properties taken into possession in the second quarter, down from 3,000 the previous quarter and 5,400 in the second quarter of 2014. Of these, 1,800 were in the owner-occupier market and 700 in the buy-to-let market.

In terms of arrears, the total number of mortgages with arrears equivalent to 2.5 per cent or more of the mortgage balance was 106,400, or 0.96 per cent of all mortgages, which again, was the lowest rate since quarterly records began seven years ago.

Of all loans with arrears of over 2.5 per cent of balance, some 100,700 were owner-occupier and 5,700 buy-to-let.

Meanwhile, new findings from the National Landlords Association (NLA) has revealed that 47 per cent of landlords in the UK will be affected by the removal of the annual ‘wear and tear’ tax allowance announced by the Chancellor George Osborne in his recent Budget statement.

From April 2016, the annual wear and tear allowance, which is currently available for furnished homes, will be replaced with a tax relief system that enables landlords to tax deduct the costs they incur on replacing furnishings in the property.

repossessions fallChris Norris (left), NLA Head of Policy, said, “We fully understand the frustration of those landlords who let exclusively on a furnished basis as the removal of this allowance will very likely represent a reduction in the relief they can claim.

“However, it will come as a welcome revision for those letting a mixed portfolio, unfurnished, or part furnished property as the replacement system will allow them to deduct legitimate revenue expenses in the future.”

August 19, 2015

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