Half a million borrowers in mortgage arrears

Mortgage lenders predict the recession will lead to a huge rise in arrears among borrowers in 2009, and the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) says the number of households more than three months behind with their repayments would reach half a million. The CML’s latest figures show that gross mortgage lending in November fell by 22 per cent from October, and was 51 per cent lower than the same month last year. It also predicts that sales next year will continue to fall – down to just 700,000 from 900,000 this year and 1.6 million in 2007, while it expects that repossessions will rise to 75,000 by the end of next year.