3.5 million mortgage customers ''unable to move''
14 August 2009
A third of all UK customers with a residential mortgage are unable to move house due to a lack of equity or an inability to gain access to funds, according to a prominent broker.
Mortgage company John Charcol notes that this amounts to some 3.5 million homeowners who could struggle to relocate during the current economic downturn.
Ray Boulger, senior technical manager at the firm, said: "There are some people who are going to be denied the opportunity to move for quite some time unless perhaps they are prepared to go and rent.
"Activity levels will stay far lower than what we were used to before the credit crunch for some time, so just the fact that activity levels are low is not in itself a reason why prices can''t go up."
The data also suggested that new mortgage customers will find it difficult to secure a policy unless they have around 15 per cent in equity.
Howwever, there was some good news for the market as the Council of Mortgage Lenders released figures that showed a rise in the amount of mortgage and remortgage loans in the month of July.
By Gary Huddless
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