Nearly one million borrowers in negative equity

Falling house prices have forced 900,000 mortgage borrowers into negative equity, research by the Council of Mortgage Lenders has found. Three in four have an average shortfall of between £6,000 and £8,000, nearly a quarter of a million have a shortfall close to £20,000 and a further 13,000 are in negative equity to the tune of £37,000. Homeowners in the North are worst affected with 9.2 per cent of owner occupiers in negative equity, while in the South East the figure is 5.7 per cent of households. Scottish homeowners are the least affected with only 1 per cent of borrowers suffering from falling prices.