400,000 families could lose their homes as unemployment skyrockets

amcluesent · 21 February 2009 at 9:25AM

"Up to 400,000 families could lose their homes as the recession drives unemployment to unprecedented rates, a leading economist has warned.

Repossessions could exceed the heights reached during the property crash of the early 1990s amid a ‘huge spike’ in defaults, according to respected economics consultancy Fathom.

The crisis will be triggered by a surge in unemployment to four million, or 13 per cent of the workforce, according to Danny Gabay, a former Bank of England economist.

Mr Gabay said: ‘Considering the decline in the housing market has already exceeded the entire peak-to-trough decline over the course of the 1990s, I think this is quite a conservative estimate.’"

"Yes! I WILL destroy the English middle-class! Hoots!"

ad44downey · 21 February 2009 at 11:27AM

Clown re-invents boom and bust. Well done.

Yoshua · 21 February 2009 at 11:27AM

If this many are unemployed then I will move from the 50% to the 70% club.

whathavewedone · 21 February 2009 at 11:58AM

Dont forget though that a lot of the people being made unemployed will not be homeowners. Also after April loans of up to 400k will be able to be deferred for up to two years if people lose their jobs. That will have an effect on slowing down repos/forced sales from the second half of this year.

Not a fan of GB just playing devil's advocate here.

ad44downey · 21 February 2009 at 12:12PM

Nobody has fooked our economy up this bad since Mad Maggie was running the country.

Pobby · 21 February 2009 at 2:21PM

Ah, and I remember the sweet tones of that great ballad of the mid 2000`s " My House is My Pension ". Seems so long ago now, he said, with a tear in his eye!