Top 10 Areas Most At Risk From Repossession, And What This Means For House Prices!

The government has identified 22 of the UK’s hotspots for repossession in an attempt to target help and support to struggling home owners. They will attempt through media and press to stress the importance of seeking advice at the early stages of repayment difficulties.

The most at risk areas were identified as:

• Barking and Dagenham Birmingham
• Bolton Cannock Chase
• Corby Halton
• Kingston-upon-Hull Knowsley
• Liverpool Manchester
• Newham Northampton
• Nottingham Reading
• Redditch Salford
• Sandwell Sunderland
• Swindon Walsall
• Wigan Wolverhampton

How does this affect the housing market and house prices?

The Government has applied a lot of pressure to mortgage lenders to use repossession as an absolute last resort. This has no doubt limited the number of house repo’s in the short term but it is only deferring the problem. At some stage a proportion of these homes will have to come to the market through repossession. Increased public sector redundancies and increases to interest rate are a likely trigger and with the massive national debt build up this now seems inevitable!

The impact of high levels of repossession within an area effects more than just those who lose their homes. The flooding of the market by discounted property following repossession means that all prices on the market are forced to shift down to compete with the discounted pricing. Many are now predicting that this could lead to a secondary House Market Crash in the coming year, so now could be the last chance to sell their house.