| From Independent.co.uk: The spectre of negative equity on a scale not seen since the housing crash of the early 1990s is about to haunt the nation again, with unknowable but certainly dramatic political and economic consequences.
According to research from the Standard & Poor's credit agency, some 1.7 million homeowners – one in seven – will see the value of their home fall below the outstanding balance on their mortgage in the next year.
The gloomiest prediction circulating the City would see that number ballooning to 3.7 million households – almost one in three. Prices are already 9 per cent off their peak.
Meanwhile, and partly as a result of the widespread gloom around property, consumer confidence has fallen to lows last seen during the slump of the 1970s. Then, as now, consumers are facing steep rises in energy prices, the latest being Centrica's announcement of a 35 per cent rise in British Gas bills, with their electricity prices up by 9 per cent..... Full Article: Source
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