South West Repossessions Rise Above National Average

south west | globalisation | news report Monday October 06, 2008 22:03 by MoneyWatch - SouthWestWatch

SouthWestWatch - While the markets drop our news-stock rises on and on!

From our MoneyWatch desk - and boy-o-boy have they been busy dumping bad stocks and buying gold. However we collared them to give us an update for the South West - and it's bad news folks. The South West is being hit by a wave of repossessions.

As the gleaming spires of Cabot Circus open in Bristol, across the region there are plenty of worried families for whom a day out at the tills is the last thing on thier mind. Recent figures show that as the credit crunch is biting, and as you might expect, repossessions are on the rise, the percentage for the region is much higher than the national average - in some areas of the South West up to 24 precentage points higher!! The national average is 17% and in the South West it is up to 41%!!! This from the Guardian;

Latest figures from the Ministry of Justice reveal that the number of repossession claims issued in Devon and Cornwall were up by 41% this spring compared with the same period last year. But experts in the south-west are convinced the situation this autumn is already much worse than the figures suggest. One repossession and eviction court in Penzance, west Cornwall, raced through 50 cases in one morning recently. In Barnstaple, north Devon, the last repossession court heard 26 cases - more than double the number before the credit crunch. Stephen Davis, manager of Torridge and Bude Citizens Advice Bureau, said: "The problem is simple. In the south-west we have lower than average wages and above-average house prices. People have overreached themselves." In the area covered by North Cornwall district council the average wage is £23,000. The average house price is 23 times that.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/oct/06/housingm...rices

So in all the talk of bailing banks out, should we not be talking about bailing people out?

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