On the 30th of April we saw the Land Registry publish their house price index. They have released encouraging news for UK home owners. Repossessions are down across the board!

Monthly Repossession Volume

The above graphic shows the monthly repossession volume in England and Wales. Two pieces of information we can pull from this are:

• In the months October 2014 to January 2015, repossession volumes averaged 720 per month. This is a fall compared to the same period a year earlier, when volumes averaged 1,173 per month.
• Repossession volumes are exhibiting a downward trend.

Positive news for the UK economy, but can this downward trend last? We would love to hear your thoughts in the comment section below.

Repossessions As Percentage Of Sales In The Last 12 Months

From this data we can see that Greater London is the region with the greatest fall of repossessions, while the East of England comes in at second place. From the data provided we can see that actually all regions experienced a decrease in the number of repossession sales.

Region	January 2015 Home Repossessions	January 2014 Home Repossessions	Difference
East	34	71	-52%
East Midlands	56	99	-43%
London	65	138	-53%
North East	23	28	-18%
North West	128	252	-49%
South East	57	117	-51%
South West	39	65	-40%
Wales	59	86	-31%
West Midlands	42	71	-41%
Yorkshire & The Humber	87	154	-44%
Total	590	1,081	-45%

Year upon year of a downward trend has seen repossessions at their lowest rate since 2006. This is backed up by the data provided by the Government House Price Index, this is genuinely great news for the UK economy and property market.

The Future?

For the time being the property market and low interest rates look set to continue the decline in repossessions. However, how many families are living month by month, from one pay cheque to the next?

More importantly, how would even a small rise in their mortgage rate affect them?

The true extent of repossession will perhaps only become clear then.