Fears grow for over-indebted homeowners
Tuesday, February 26th 2008
Fears are growing that homeowners with 100 percent-plus mortgages could run into trouble after a string of lenders, including Northern Rock, scrapped deals that allow people to borrow more than the cost of their home.
Hard-pressed first-time buyers with little or no deposit will also find it harder to get onto the housing ladder as banks withdraw home loans aimed at young people who lack savings.
Leading indices show house prices have been falling in recent months and many experts expect, at best, the market to be flat during 2008.
The 125 percent mortgage market has shrunk to minute proportions with only one lender remaining, while the more standard 100 percent home loan is also under threat.
"When there's double-digit house-price growth, it doesn't matter so much if you take on a relatively high LTV (loan-to-value) because by the time you come to re-mortgage, your LTV will have effectively fallen because you will have more equity in your home," says Melanie Bien, a director at independent mortgage broker Savills Private Finance.
"But if you borrow the full amount or more than the value of your home and house prices don't rise, or -- even worse -- fall, you could have even more negative equity when you come to re-mortgage. And if fewer lenders will look at this sort of business, you could be in trouble."
Northern Rock announced on Thursday that it would follow the lead of Alliance and Leicester, Abbey, Coventry Building Society and Godiva Mortgages in leaving the combined mortgage and loan market -- under which people can borrow 100 percent of their property's value in a mortgage and a further 25 percent through a personal loan.
It will no longer accept applications for its "Together" mortgage range from 8 p.m.
