Bexley’s 826 Mortgage Time-Bombs?
According to my research, of the 8,264 properties in Bexley, 3,824 of those properties have mortgages on them. 94.5% of those mortgaged properties are made up of owner-occupiers and the rest are buy to let landlords (with a mortgage). The concern is that 826 of those Bexley mortgages are interest only. My research also shows that, each year between 2017 and 2022, 10 of those households with interest only mortgages will mature, and of those, 2 households a year will either have a shortfall or no way of paying the mortgage off. Now that might not sound a lot – but it is still someone’s home that is potentially at risk. Theoretically this is an enormous problem for anyone in this situation as their home is at risk of repossession if they don’t have some means to repay these mortgages at the end of the term ( the typical term being 25 to 35 years). Banks and Building Societies are under no obligation to lengthen the term of the mortgage and, when deciding whether they are p...