Repossessions lower than expected as lenders hold off

Mortgage arrears and possessions continued to decline in the third quarter, says the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

A total of 8,900 properties (representing 0.08% of mortgages) were taken into possession in the third quarter of 2010.

The total was 5% lower than the 9,400 cases of possession in the preceding three months, and represents the fourth consecutive quarterly decline. The number of properties taken into possession was 27% lower than the 12,200 in the same period a year ago.

In the first nine months of the year, there have been 28,400 cases of possession, trending below the CML’s revised forecast of 39,000 for the year as a whole, and significantly lower than the original forecast of 53,000 properties.

There was also a modest improvement in the number of mortgages in arrears. CML data showed that 176,100 mortgages (1.55% of the total) had arrears of 2.5% or more of the outstanding balance at the end of September, down from 178,200 at the end of June, and from 203,800 a year earlier.

This is consistent with the CML’s prediction of 175,000 mortgages in arrears at the end of the year, but lower than its original forecast of 205,000 cases.

But CML director general Michael Coogan warned: “We cannot take falling arrears and possessions for granted, and the recent welcome trend may reverse.”