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Four years of negative equity for UK homeowners
Business Digest: Report suggests there is not much financial sense in buying or building homes now
Homeowners face another four years of negative equity, according to the National Housing Federation (NHF).
People who bought a house in 2007, when the property market was at its peak, paid an average of £217,000, according to estimates from the NHF. New forecasts suggest that these buyers will have to wait until 2014 before they make back the cost of their home.
The financial crisis has also hit the supply of new homes as banks have become less willing to lend to buyers and fund developments.
Fewer homes are being built in England today than in any peacetime period since 1923, according to the NHF.
At just over 87,000, the number of homes started in 2009/10 is enough for about a third of the new households formed each year.
Read a full report at the FT ·
