| Subprime woes: Foreclosures at 8-yr high in UK |
| Agencies / New York August 24, 2007 |
| Desperate times call for desperate measures. While the US fears an epidemic of foreclosures, brought on by the subprime mortgage meltdown, UK is already suffering one, according to a report on the website of The New York Times. "Foreclosures are at an eight-year high, lenders have repossessed a record 14,000 properties in 2007, 30% more than at the same time last year, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders. An additional 1,25,100 households are behind in their mortgage payments," the report said. Personal bankruptcies are at an all-time record, caused largely by a crushing increase in mortgage debt. The situation has grown so dire - as has the threat of desperate homeowners being exploited - that the newly installed government of Prime Minister Gordon Brown is trying to change the fundamentals of the mortgage system. Whether they can is an open question, especially given Britons |
