This is despite modest falls in house prices across the UK and more pronounced reductions in property values in some regions.
Today’s newly-published data updates the analysis of housing equity the CML published in August 2011, based on data from the first quarter of last year, and was released in their monthly 'News and Views'.
The main findings of their re-appraisal of housing equity are that:
- the amount of unmortgaged housing equity held by borrowers remains broadly unchanged since last year at around £800 billion, despite the weakness of house prices in the intervening period (this level of equity, compared to outstanding mortgage debt, equates to an average loan-to-value ratio of 56%);
- the number of borrowers in negative equity has declined by more than 100,000 (or 13%) since the first quarter of last year, from 827,000 to 719,000;
- the proportion of first-time buyers who have taken out loans since 2005 and are in negative equity has declined from 26% to 20%; and
- around 90% of all borrowers taking out loans since 2005 hold some equity in their property, with more than half owning at least 30% of the value of the property and more than 80% holding an equity cushion of at least 10% of their home’s value.
