There are millions of borrowers in the UK who are neck deep in loan payments for mortgaged properties. With the financial crunch the world facing today, even the UK is not left behind to get the repercussions. To add to that the banks have also made their lending procedures stiff, raising an screeching alarm for the on-time repayment of any home loans to avoid repossession of property.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has offered repossession advice and warned time and again of the dangers of defaulting and also acts as a watchdog regulating certain norms for the lenders and borrowers. Remember – online and high street impartial help can also ease your doubts and inhibitions.

There are times when defaulters fail to meet payments for mortgaged property which arises opportunists taking advantage of the situation. Rising repossessions makes the negotiators take advantage of the falling property prices to grab the chunk of it at a price less than the market value and resell their repossessed property for a profit.

Data estimates a tentative 48,000 homes repossessed by the end of 2009 and a similar if not less to be in 2010 end, making repossession of homes an easy deal for lenders to make money from those who are stuck in between deadlines and loans repayments.

Last month, house prices were up on the year previous buy dramatically down on the month previous according to the Royal Institute for Chartered Surveyers (RICS) report. This dip in house prices may not have made much difference to the market as it is fairly static anyway but it did affect the Pound which dipped below $1.50 shortly after the data was announced.

Overall, house prices were up 17% on Feb ‘09 but down from +31% in January this year, a drop that is so severe it hasn’t been seen since April 2008. The knock-on low confidence saw Sterling fall 0.4% to a 10-month low of $1.4781, a sign that we’ve still a way to go before we see a stable housing market, less repossessed property and a solid economy.

It seems the General Election is having an adverse affect on the UK housing market as Estate Agents are reporting buyers and sellers are adopting a wait to see attitude regarding a new government and any rulings. The reason why many are holding off buying or sellin a property is because they are concerned about budget cuts and tax rises  that may affect their position for better or for worse.

The procrastination amoung players in the housing market comes at the same time as the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) announced that last months nationwide house price figures where up 17% on last Feb but down from +31% in January. So although house prices are rising, if you’re looking to sell quickly to avoid repossession or to follow a job then you may need to look for another method.

Right, to end the month, we’ve got a housing market stat-tastic bonanza, are you ready? Here we go…

- The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) said that courts in England and Wales issued 42% fewer repossession orders in Q4 ‘09 compared Q4 ‘08.

- There were 16,928 orders for home repossession in Q4 and 46% of orders were suspended.

- The Government Mortgage Rescue Scheme has helped 276 households since it launched in January 2009

- Over 15,000 households have received free repossession advice from their local authority since January 2009

- From December to March over 9,000 repossession cases went to court desk advisors, over 7,500 of these had the immediate risk of repossession lifted.

There you go, a Happy Ending.

Last month we reported on the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and their plans to introduce new repossession laws to help protect struggling home owners. The new measures will ensure that home owners who are finding it difficult paying back their loan are treated fairly and equally by lenders.

Well now we’re a month nearer to these laws being in place and they can’t come too soon for those in need of them. As well as these laws being put in place, there will also be new rules governing the Sell and Rent Back market that will ensure home owners who need the cash from their home are also guaranteed a roof over their heads. With these two movements in place, 2010 stands to be a good year for home owners needed to make tricky financial decisions.

Today’s topic – House Repossession – what did you expect? A favourite here on the Repossession.net blog, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), have released yet morefacts and figures. This time they’re all about repossessions and show that banks and lenders took 10,200 properties into possession in Q4 of 2009. Quarter on Quarter, this figure was 13% lower than Q3 but when the whole of 2009 is assessed, repossessions totalled 46,000 properties, a level not seen since the mid nineties.

The only positive is that ‘09 figures didn’t meet the grim forecasts at the start of year, forecasts that this year put repossession numbers at some 53,000 with around 205,000 arrears cases to boot.

The newly regulated sell and rent back industry may well see even more popularity based on the findings of research by FindaProperty. Their hard work uncovered the fact that February saw the number properties available to rent fall to the lowest point in over a year, the knock-on effect of which is a 1.2% rise in rent prices, bumping the national average up to £814 per month.

The problem is, rising house prices, limited credit and less rental properties means there are a glut of people stuck with very few options for accomodation and shelter. The only winners are Landlords who will see an increase in rents and tenants staying longer because of few alternative options.

On Wednesday, we blogged about the new housing strategy that the London Mayor, Boris Johnson, has put forward. It plans to scrap affordable housing targets for the Capital and as a side-effect, make it much harder for people to qualify for the Homebuy programme run by the Government.

This is because Boris will be raising the household income limit to £74,000 from £60,000 but as a sweetner, or a distraction depending how you look at it, he’s said that around 50,000 affordable homes would be built by 2012. Despite the indifferent welcome for the new strategy, the Mayor did say that near £40m has been spent by London boroughs bringing 1,700 empty or repossessed houses back into use.