UK Home Repossessions Fall 10% In 2Q,Likely To Rise In 2nd Half-CML

LONDON -- The number of U.K. homes that were repossessed fell 10% in the second quarter despite the recession as lenders showed forbearance to customers with payment problems and low interest rates helped ease their debt burden, the Council of Mortgage lenders said Friday.

But the group warned that while the economy remains weak and unemployment continues to rise there is likely to be an increase in repossessions in the second half of the year.

The CML said the number of repossessions fell to 11,400 in the second quarter from a downwardly 12,700 in the first three months of the year. There were 10,000 repossessions in the second quarter of last year.

That means there were a total of 24,100 repossessions in the first six months of the year, significantly less than half the CML's forecast of 65,000 for 2009 as a whole.