So the news out today is that 23,000 people are staring down the barrel of negative equity, but what does it mean? Negative equity means that your loan to value or LTV exceeds 100% - or put another way, your debt is bigger than the value of your property. And the reality is that there are no quick wins.
You can calculate the likelihood of your property falling into negative equity using an equity calculator and based on current predictions, it's not looking good for a lot of us. So how do you get out of negative equity? Well first things first, don't panic - house prices rise and house prices fall and much as they've defied Newton's laws for the better part of a decade, Old Isaac has been proved right yet again. If you can afford your repayments, there's no need to panic - hold fire and the market will recover, although it could be several years before you see any meaningful return.
In the interim, you'll need to work harder to maintain the value of your property - invest sensibly in your property and work for the increased value which has fallen into your lap over the past few years. For ProblemSolved's Top 5 winners and losers for improving the value of your home, visit mydeco.com.
Don't know your architrave from your elbow? Look up building and trade terms in our property jargon buster...
Post new comment