Repossession figures decreasing, FSA says

Debtors may be cheered by the news that fewer houses were repossessed in the third quarter of the 2009 than at the beginning of the year, figures from the Financial Services Authority (FSA) have shown.

According to the organisation, repossessions totalled 14,000 for this period, which is five per cent below the peak seen months before.

However, head of communications at the Finance and Leasing Association Russell Hamblin-Boone noted that, despite this, the measures put in place to help people avoid losing their homes earlier on are “just as important now” as they have been in the past.

He went on to add that the government is faced with the challenge of ensuring that lenders have access to affordable wholesale finance so as to be able to offer products to borrowers.

But Mr Hamblin-Boone did welcome the FSA’s statistics, saying that the fall in repossessions “[is] suggesting that things are improving for people”.

By Sarah Adie