The Council of Mortgage Lenders forecasts 75,000 repossessions for 2009. But the law firm claims that the extent of the problem could be far worse because repossessions and distressed sales were already in their thousands prior to the start of the recession.
By examining repossessions, the firm says that the real picture is much reduced because the Sale and Rent Back sector, which barely existed in the 1990s, already accounts for more than 50,000 distressed sales, according to figures from the Office of Fair Trading.
Paul Walshe, head of lending services at Moore Blatch, says: "Comparing repossessions with the 90s and the current days is like comparing apples with pears. We should be looking at the totality of distressed sales, and by doing so, we will see the position is much worse this time round."
He adds: "However, the position can be ameliorated as lenders work with borrowers and come up with innovative schemes to allow them to remain in their homes in the short term or even long term."
Robin King, director of movewithus, agrees with Moore Blatch's bleak outlook: "I think there's going to be a lot more reasons [why the problem will be worse].
"Other than standard repossessions, there's been too much buy-to-let; too much money thrown at it. There's going to be a lot of people throwing their keys in or vacating properties voluntarily, and also there's been a lot of fraud going on that's not been uncovered yet.
He adds: "There's nothing that can be done about this - it's like a runaway train now."
Editors note: There does not seem to be a rush of houses for sale in Norwich that are reposessions yet.
