'Under Water' Mortgages on the Rise

[Sundae]

We call it negative equity here, and my sister and brother in law were caught in it at about the same time as Dani's bro.

They bought a one bedroomed flat at the top of the market, moved in, got married. They could afford the mortgage payments and did not have 100% mortgage as they both had savings when they bought.

Then my sister fell pregnant.
Although she got maternity leave in her full time job, she wanted to change to working part time rather than put her baby in childcare from 08.30 to 17.30 every day. The job wasn't availble as a part time option and she had to quit.

They were stuck in their flat for nearly two years because the market dropped pretty much the same time my sister got pregnant. In the end she worked a late shift at the local supermarket, and then at a local factory in order to make ends meet and put a little aside.

They didn't lose the flat, they were not in any danger of that, but they lived in a one bedroom place with a growing daughter, on a shoestring budget for what felt to them like an eternity before they could buy a house. Like my parents when I was ggrowing up, they hardly saw eachother during the week because one would be coming in from work while one was going out - in order that my niece would always have a parent at home.

It happens to sensible people too.