UK repossessions at ‘lowest level since 2007’

Home repossessions were at their lowest level since 2007 last year, new figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders have revealed, dropping to just 36,200.

However, for the fourth quarter of 2011, the period for which new data is available, the number of repossessions was 8,500 - nearly 9 per cent lower than the third quarter, but 5 per cent up from the number of properties repossessed in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Meanwhile , separate figures from the CML showed that the number of properties being bought with buy-to-let mortgages increased by around 84,000 in 2011, in response to demand from renters.

However, buy-to-let properties accounted for 5,900 of the repossessions in 2011, up from 4,700 in 2010.

Gordon MacRae, Head of Communications and Policy at Shelter Scotland, said: “A slight fall in the overall number of UK repossessions is good news, but there is no room for complacency – especially against a backdrop of economic turmoil, government cutbacks, increases in the cost of living and higher unemployment.