Quarterly National Statistics on possession claim actions in county courts by mortgage lenders and social and private landlords in England and Wales.

The quarterly releases are released by the Ministry of Justice and produced in accordance with arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority. Note that the figures represent court actions for possession and not actual homes repossessed. Repossessions can occur without a court order being made, while not all court orders result in repossession taking place.

Mortgage and landlord possession statistics – January to March 2012

Introduction

This quarterly bulletin presents statistics on the numbers of mortgage and landlord possession claims issued in the county courts of England and Wales, and the number of claims which led to orders for possession being made by a judge. It provides provisional figures for the latest quarter (January to March 2012) and revised figures for the previous quarter (October to December 2011) as well as a summary overview of volumes over time.

The statistics are a leading indicator of the number of properties to be repossessed and the only source of sub-national possession information.  In addition to monitoring court workloads, they are used to assist in the development, monitoring and evaluation of policy both nationally and locally. The quarterly time series, both seasonally adjusted and non-seasonally adjusted, show some quarter-on-quarter volatility. Users should take care about interpreting trends based on a single quarter's data.

Main findings

Mortgage possession actions

Since 1990 there have been two major peaks in mortgage possession claims issued in the county courts of England and Wales, as shown in Figure 1 below. The larger of the two was in 1991 with the other occurring in the first half of 2008. An increase in the number of claims from 2003 led to the latter peak, this being followed by a steep fall over the second half of 2008 and 2009. The fall coincided with lower interest rates, a proactive approach from lenders in managing consumers in financial difficulties, and various interventions, such as introduction of the Mortgage Pre-Action Protocol. Over the last two years, the number of claims has decreased slightly. On a seasonally adjusted basis, there were 16,663 mortgage possession claims issued in the first quarter (January to March) of 2012, five per cent lower than in the fourth quarter of 2011.

There are various reasons why a claim may not lead to an order for possession being made by the judge (e.g. the parties may have resolved the dispute before the hearing takes place). On a seasonally adjusted basis, there were 12,925 claims which led to a mortgage possession order being made in the first quarter of 2012, three per cent lower than in the fourth quarter of 2011.

Figure 1: Mortgage Possession Actions - England & Wales, 1990 to 2012 Q1

In the first quarter of 2012, 50 per cent of first mortgage possession orders were suspended, compared to 49 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2011.

Trends in the numbers of actual repossessions (as reported by the Council of Mortgage Lenders) are similar to those in the numbers of claims issued and claims leading to orders.

Landlord possession actions

Between 2002 and the first half of 2010 there was a long downward trend in landlord possession claims issued in the county courts of England and Wales, as shown in Figure 2 below. During this period, they decreased by around 30 per cent. Since the first half of 2010, they have generally increased. On a seasonally adjusted basis, there were 36,605 landlord possession claims issued in the first quarter (January to March) of 2012, three per cent higher than in the fourth quarter of 2011.

Trends in the number of claims which led to a landlord possession order being made by a judge are very similar to those in claims issued (whether followed by an order for possession or not). The number of first orders for possession in landlord claims expressed as a proportion of the number of claims issued two months previously has increased slightly from around 66 per cent between 2000 and 2007 to around 68 per cent between 2008 and 2011. It was 69 per cent in the year ending 31 March 2012. On a seasonally adjusted basis, there were 25,360 landlord possession claims which led to an order being made in the first quarter of 2012, one per cent more than in the fourth quarter of 2011.

Figure 2: Landlord Possession Actions – England & Wales, 1999 to 2012 Q1

 

The proportion of first landlord possession orders that were suspended decreased annually from 65 per cent in 1999 to 43 per cent in 2007. Since then it has increased to 48 per cent in 2009 before falling to 43 per cent in 2011. It was 45 per cent in the first quarter of 2012.

Revisions: The statistics for the first quarter of 2012 are provisional, and are therefore liable to revision to take account of any late amendments to the administrative databases from which these statistics are sourced. The standard process for revising the published statistics to account for these late amendments is as follows. An initial revision to the statistics for the latest quarter may be made when the next edition of this bulletin is published. Final figures for this quarter, and for other quarters in the same calendar year, will be published in the bulletin presenting the statistics for the first of the following year.

Comparison of mortgage possession data sources

Comparison of data on arrears and possessions (PDF 0.06mb 9 pages)
Published on 30 January 2009

The bulletin is produced and handled by the ministry's analytical professionals and production staff. Pre-release access of up to 24 hours is granted to the following persons:

Ministry of Justice: Secretary of State, Minister of State, Permanent Secretary, Director of Access to Justice policy and the relevant special adviser, one policy officer and three press officers.

Communities and Local Government: Minister of State (Housing), Housing Markets and Planning Analysis Economist and Statistician and the relevant policy official and press officer.

HM Treasury: Two relevant policy officers.