....then we had a budget!

Outside AToM HQ, in the Carfax, we have a distribution box for the WSCT ‘Property Today’ pages. These have been taken in huge numbers over the last few weeks, which give us the impression that people are looking for properties or are monitoring house prices. It’s also been a very busy few weeks in the mortgage market, with rates fluctuating and lenders appearing to be actively lending. Many financial institutions recorded a great month for new business in February, for both purchase and remortgage applications.

Any perceived mini-recovery could possibly stall though, as we approach the forthcoming budget from Chancellor George Osborne.

The pundits have been hard at work trying to predict what the outcome will be and it is a fact that, like it or not, the Government is still faced with a huge task in getting the country back on track financially.

Figures from creditaction for March report:

- £120,660,000 is the interest the Government has to pay each day on the UK’s net debt of £2,244.2bn (which includes financial interventions).
- 212 mortgage possession claims will be issued and 163 mortgage possession orders will be made today
- 337 people every day of the year will be declared insolvent or bankrupt. This is equivalent to 1 person every 59 seconds during a working day.
- 1,603 Consumer County Court Judgements (CCJ's) were issued every day during Q4 2010 and the average judgement amount was £3,245.

Mortgage lenders took 7,900 properties into possession in Q4 2010 according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders. This equates to 87 properties being repossessed every day. In terms of payment difficulties, 169,600 mortgages ended Q4 2010 with arrears equivalent to at least 2.5% of the outstanding mortgage balance.

There are more credit cards in the UK than people according to the UK Payments Council.

The typical first-time buyer deposit in December was 23% (£35,020).

Yes, some of these figures make for grim reading, but they give an idea of the pressures the Government has to deal with in the upcoming budget and balancing the already fragile economy with the impact they will present.