Yesterday's report in the Financial Times based on data released by credit agency FitchRatings made interesting reading. The top 10 cities and postcodes with the highest proportion of loans in negative equity (by % number of borrowers) was something of a revelation. As the article pointed out :
"The range of locations showing either a high percentage of borrowers in negative equity or a high proportion of loans under water is striking. In central Birmingham, 31.2% of borrowers, representing 37.4 % of loans by value, are in negative equity, while the countryside around Cambridge, where house prices rose sharply in recent years, has also suffered badly".
However, whilst house price falls in major cities such as Birmingham and Manchester - Salford Quays also has a high proportion of loans in negative equity - significantly reflect unsustainable levels of apartment-building, the situation in the East of England's "growth triangle" of Cambridge, Peterborough and Northampton is more surprising.
For it is in fact Northampton which is currently the UK's epicentre of negative equity, according to FitchRatings. All the more important, therefore, for housing policy-makers and planners to remind themselves - as memories are surprisingly short - that this part of England has been the focus for the development of "affordable housing" for so-called "Sustainable Communities".
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