Without stricter planning controls, one third of the new homes the Government would like to see built by 2020, could be both unsaleable and uninsureable says the Association of British Insurers (ABI). One million of the proposed three million new properties are due to be built on flood plains, putting them at risk of flood damage. The floods last summer cost the industry more than £3bn. Despite the advice of the Environment Agency on flood risk, 13 major new developments have been approved; with 7 sites labelled high risk.
For those who bought into the property market recently, the fear of negative equity has returned. The number of surveyors reporting house price falls grew for the sixth consecutive month in January. New-builds are particularly at risk, with the luxury market most affected. Some buyers who paid top-of-the-market prices back in 2005 are now seeing the value of their homes tumbling by 40%. Repossessed flats in Manchester are selling for prices that would have seemed laughable several years ago and new buyers are reluctant to commit themselves for fear of prices dropping further.
Lenders as well as borrowers are suffering, after being hit by sub-prime losses. The Bradford and Bingley Building Society this week reported a shortfall in profits after they cut the value of some of their housing market linked assets. Their pre-tax profit almost halved in 2007, down to £126m from £246.7m in 2006.
For those property owners whose mortgage costs have already spiralled above their means, the chance to sell back their houses but remain as tenants is a tempting one, avoiding the risk of repossession. However, Alan Sampson, Chief Executive of housing charity Shelter, has accused many companies offering this service of being “rip-off merchants” who undervalue properties and break promises. Speaking on BBC Radio Four’s Money Box programme, Sampson said, "People are being ripped off. We are seeing people who are getting only 50% or 60% of the value of their homes instead of the 70% to 90% they should be getting. Many of the promises that are made that people can stay in their homes for the rest of their lives are not being honoured." He also added “Far too many families are now struggling to pay their mortgages and stay afloat while the government allows them to flounder.”
This view was disputed by Glen Ackroyd of the company A Quick Sale who pointed out that his industry, which is worth in excess of £2.5 billion per year, provided a “market solution” to those in mortgage arrears. "These people otherwise would be repossessed and in turn would be homeless and need re-housing. [Instead] they can sell and rent back. They can release equity. And often the rental payments they pay are far less than their previous mortgage payments.”
With repossessions hitting an 8 year high last year and experts predicting worse to come, such a course of action may be a lifeline for many. Figures from the Ministry of Justice show that in just the final 3 months of last year 35,662 mortgage repossession orders reached the courts in England and Wales, perhaps heralding what Sampson called a “move backwards to the dark days of the 1990s housing recession”
Government action is urgently needed to regulate the market. John Socha, Chairman of the National Landlords Association is drawing up a Code of Practice for the industry. "We have concluded that there will be some sort of regulatory body but even if the Government says regulate now it will take two years to do it so we need to do something now."
Meanwhile, Government intervention means that troubled Northern Rock is to be temporarily nationalised using emergency legislation and trading in their shares on the stock market is suspended. Chancellor Alistair Darling said he made this decision because two private takeover offers did not offer the taxpayer “sufficient value for money”.