by Calculated Risk on 2/28/2009 01:07:00 AM

From The Times: Lloyds counts cost of HBOS takeover and property slump as 500,000 customers slip into negative equity

HBOS, Britain’s biggest mortgage lender, revealed that 381,669 customers, about 16.8 per cent of its mortgage book, owed more than the value of their homes. At Lloyds TSB, 162,000 homeowners, 15 per cent of its mortgage book, were in the same position.

These figures compare with only 0.1 per cent of customers of each bank – a total of less than 4,000 households – being in negative equity at the end of 2007.
...
Michael Saunders, chief economist at Citigroup, said last month that the bank estimated homeowners with negative equity was up to about 1.2 million, from 100,000 a year ago, out of a total of between 11 million and 12 million mortgages. “There is no sign that the decline in house prices – and hence the surge in negative equity – is yet close to ending,” he said.

He said in December that about one owner in four could be in negative equity if prices fell by a total of 30 per cent by 2010, as many analysts expect.

Also on comments: Haloscan crashed hard, so I switched to JS-Kit. I'll try to improve the JS-Kit interface, and hopefully Ken (CR Companion) will be able to provide some help. Thanks to everyone for your patience.