16-10-2007
UK mortgage market remains sound
Despite recent turbulence, the fundamentals of the UK mortgage market remain secure, it has been claimed.
According to comments made by Peter Williams, executive director of the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association (IMLA), although the recent market volatility has dented confidence levels, normality is starting to return.
The most recent data available from the Council of Mortgage Lenders shows that properties are being repossessed at a rate of 0.12 per cent and that the number of mortgages in arrears by more than three months is currently 1.06 per cent.
"The turmoil in the financial and mortgage markets was attributable [to] concerns among investors that UK lenders could encounter the same problems as have occurred in the US," Mr Williams.
"That ignored the fact that the credit quality of UK mortgages remains very good," he added.
However, Mr Williams did note that both repossession rates and the number of mortgages in arrears are likely to increase.
Across the whole of the UK, there are currently over 11.8 million individual mortgages.