04/08/2008
Things look gloomy in the housing and mortgage markets. Not only is the supply of mortgages reduced but the now house prices are falling. Standard & Poor’s, the Rating Agency, forecasts that up to 1.7 million people could be pushed into negative equity. This is the result of their belief that house prices could fall by a further 17% in the coming year.
The markets have, up to now, been buoyed by inflation and unemployment remaining low. Already this year inflation has moved up to an 11 year high of 3.8% and the Bank of England thinks it may top 4% later this year. The UK jobless total rose by 12,000 in the 3 months to May to a total of 1.62 million. The number of people claiming unemployment benefit rose by 15,500 in June to 840,100 – the largest increase since December 1992.
With all this uncertainty about it is advisable to consider an income protection insurance product. Customers should talk to their mortgage broker to see if this is advisable in their circumstances.
Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage. Calls are recorded for training and monitoring purposes. Mortgages By Phone LImited is an appointed representative of Connells Limited who are authorised by the Financial Services Authority for the advertising and recommending of regulated mortgage and general insurance contracts.