The number of mortgage possession actions entered – the first step in the process for seizing a property where a lender issues a summons in a county court – totalled 25,869 in the first three months of this year.
This figure is more than 35 per cent higher than the 19,155 actions entered in the same period last year and 25 per cent up on the last three months of 2004.
The department said that this was the highest quarterly figure since its records began in 1995. Actual orders made for repossession reached 14,048 in the first quarter, up from 11,888 in the last quarter of 2004.
Ray Boulger, senior technical manager at Charcol, said: “It’s the second quarter where there has been a substantial rise in the figures.
“The interest rate rises over the past year will have had an effect on a minority but it’s difficult to pin down exactly where these numbers have come from.
“It would be interesting to get a breakdown of the second charge lenders who have issued the actions.”
Richard Sexton, national business development manager at e.surv, said: “We haven’t seen any significant rise in the number of repossessions or approaches from lenders.
“The figure of 35 per cent could easily be taken out of context as lenders are moving to use court actions much quicker and being proactive in warning borrowers at an earlier stage.
“This is not a major issue; it’s the actual number of repossessions that’s the key – the majority of actions do not translate into repossessions.”
