§ Sir Thomas ArnoldTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what estimate he has made of the number of households where the value of the property is less than the value of the mortgage.
§ Sir George YoungThe number of owner-occupiers with mortgages larger than the value of their houses in the fourth quarter of 1992 is estimated at about 1 million, excluding any that have increased their mortgage indebtedness since buying their dwellings. There is insufficient information to estimate their number. The figure of 1 million is subject to considerable uncertainty, due to the very limited amount of information about house purchase loans from lenders other than building societies.