Things are going to get worse, nows the time to start saving.
I agree... Some people are borrowed up to the hilt!
I heard one guy on the radio yesterday - He bought a flat in Leeds 3 years ago for £180k with a 100% mortgage... The flat is now worth about £120k!!! You do the maths! And there are many many more people out there like him.
Like my local pub landlord says - Cash is King!
Andy
I agree with lots being said on this thread, but let's not get too carried away. This guy in Leeds. His flat is worth £120k IF he tried to sell it. At the moment he has to continue to pay his mortgage, and interest rates aren't 15% or whatever. So he is no worse off on a monthly outgoings basis than if his flat was still worth £180k. If he loses his job and needs to sell then he is in the proverbial. But not yet.
Thats very true, interest rates are not at 15%
The problem this gentleman is facing doesnt require interest rates to be at 15% for him to go under.
He most likely took a 100% deal because he couldnt raise a deposit. This puts him on a much higher interest rate than the usual headline grabbing rates offered by the big four banks. His Standard Variable Rate (if he fails to remortgage which looks likely those figures!) will shoot up dramatically adding as much as £200 - £300 a month to his mortgage.
Add to this the cost of gas, electric and food which are rising alarmingly (well above the governments official inflation rate) then we dont need to see rates hit 15% to see the same problems as the 90's
It doesnt matter where the extra money goes...whether it goes on extra mortgage payments because interest rates are 15% or whether it goes because his SVR goes up combined with gas, electric, food going up. The result is the same - he has a fixed income and its being eaten away faster than he can earn more.
This leaves aside that he is probably on an interest only mortgage (so he's not eroding the capital) or that he has probably borrowed well in excess of 3.5x his salary.
All this spells TROUBLE ahead for him...and lots like him. When they get into trouble and stop spending, then it starts to fall out onto the rest of us.
Mervyn King said in a speech just yesterday that he "expects innocent bystanders to lose their homes as a result of this loose lending by the banks"