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| Small rise in home repossessions | Small rise in home repossessions |
| (20 minutes later) | |
| The number of properties repossessed in the July to September period rose by 3% to 11,700, according to figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). | The number of properties repossessed in the July to September period rose by 3% to 11,700, according to figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). |
| The total was up 5% from the same period a year ago. | The total was up 5% from the same period a year ago. |
| But the CML said it was now cutting its forecast for total repossessions for a second time this year, to 48,000. | But the CML said it was now cutting its forecast for total repossessions for a second time this year, to 48,000. |
| It said repossessions were being staved off by a combination of "lender forbearance", government measures and the effect of low interest rates. | It said repossessions were being staved off by a combination of "lender forbearance", government measures and the effect of low interest rates. |
| Last year, the CML thought that repossessions would rise steeply in the course of 2009 to about 75,000, but it now thinks they will end up just 8,000 higher than 2008's figure of 40,000. | |
| "We are glad to have been wrong on our previous forecast for mortgage repossessions this year," said the CML's director general Michael Coogan. | |
| "Although the economy is not out of the woods yet, we no longer expect a dramatic rise in properties being taken into possession unless interest rates rise from the low levels that most commentators now expect to persist for some time," he added. | |
| The CML also reported that both the number and proportion of mortgages in arrears fell in the third quarter, despite the economy moving deeper into recession and unemployment rising. | |
| At the end of September there were 194,600 mortgages - 1.77% of the total - which had accumulated arrears of 2.5% or more of the outstanding loan. | |
| The number in arrears was 9,600, or 5%, fewer than the 204,200 mortgages in that position at the end of June, which were 1.86% of the total number of mortgages at that time. | |
| Even so, the September figure was still 29% higher than at the same stage last year. |