Half of middle class home owners fear their properties could be repossessed next year

[Mrs. Sharon B. Hodge]

Half of middle class home owners fear their properties could be repossessed next year
Nearly half of middle-class home owners fear that they could lose their properties next year because they are struggling to pay their mortgages, research shows.


By Christopher Hope, Whitehall Editor
Last Updated: 6:53AM GMT 30 Dec 2008

The average property now costs £161,883, says the Land Registry Photo: PA
The news comes after the Council for Mortgage Lenders forecast that the number of repossessions is likely nearly to double to 75,000 next year.


A YouGov poll, carried out for a new report from Tory MP Grant Shapps, found that 44 per cent of mortgage holders are worried that lenders could force them out of their properties next year.


A similar proportion were worried about not being able to meet mortgage payments between now and the end of 2010.


The study - The New Homeless - found that the concern among homeowners about losing the roof over their heads in the economic downturn stretched across society.


It found that 42 per cent of middle class professionals were worried about not paying the mortgage over the next year, compared with 46 per cent of blue collar households.


The study found that nearly one in seven people were in the highest category of being "very worried" about making the repayments over the next year.


More higher earners - 15 per cent - described themselves as "very worried" about being able to make the payments, compared with 12 per cent of those in less affluent groups, possibly because they over-borrowed during the property boom.


Part of the problem was that bills have far outstripped increases in family income. Figures show that while average pay increased by 13 per cent in the four years to the end of March 2008, fixed household costs jumped by 45 per cent.


Mr Shapps said: "Householders up and down the country and in every kind of housing are now concerned, as never before, about their ability to maintain a roof over their heads over the next 12 months.


"While Gordon Brown would like us to believe that they fixed the roof when the sun was shining, it's now becoming clear that for many hard working families concern about keeping their home is greater than at any time before.


"Despite this, the Government continues to release a series of poorly thought out announcements which are often contradictory and confusing for the public.
"

YouGov polled 1,208 people across the UK on 9 December.


http://www. telegraph. co. uk/finance/economics/houseprices/4016367...