What Is Negative Equity And What To Do About It?
Estimated reading time 5 minutes
In This Article
- Interest-Only Mortgages
- Moving Home And Negative Equity
- How To Find Out If You Are In Negative Equity
- How You May Be Able To Avoid Negative Equity
- What Should You Do If You Have Negative Equity
Negative equity is when your property becomes worth less than the remaining value of your mortgage. To be in negative equity, the value of your house must fall below the amount you still owe on your mortgage. Our expert team at Gaffsy is fully adept at dealing with properties in negative equity. As cash house buyers, it’s something we specialise in!
Equity is the value of your property that you own outright. To work out your equity, you’ll need to know:
- The current value of your house by getting a valuation.
- How much you still owe on your mortgage.
- The current value of your property minus outstanding mortgage amount equals your equity in the property.
People often find themselves in negative equity due to falling house prices. When prices fall, the number of households in negative equity tends to rise. It’s a bigger problem during recessions, when house prices can experience bigger drops. For example, house prices fell by around 20% between 2007 and 2009, during the global financial crisis. This meant that almost 1 in 10 people who held mortgages in the UK were in negative equity by spring 2009.
To explain, let’s say you bought a house worth £180,000 with a £20,000 deposit and a mortgage of £160,000. After two years of living in the property, you paid off £10,000 of his mortgage. After getting the house valued again, you found that it was now worth £100,000. This valuation puts you in negative equity of £50,000. You still owe £150,000 of your mortgage on a house that’s now worth £100,000.
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Interest-Only Mortgages
Interest-only mortgages can increase the risk of negative equity. This is because you only ever pay the interest on the amount you borrow, rather than repaying the mortgage sum. The total amount you owe is repaid at the end of the mortgage. Because you’re not paying off your mortgage amount, you don’t build equity in your property, so a fall in property prices could put you at risk.
Moving Home And Negative Equity
Negative equity can mean selling your home for less than the value of the mortgage you took out to buy it. This is because you’ll have an outstanding amount of money on the mortgage that you have to pay back after the sale. If you don’t have savings or other funds available, it may be difficult to pay this and it may not be easy for you to sell your house. One thing you can do is look to a cash property buying company. With Gaffsy, you can get your house valuation quickly, and complete on your house sale fast with no fees.
How To Find Out If You Are In Negative Equity
You can find out whether you are in negative equity by following these steps:
- Make an appointment with your lender or speak to them on the phone.
- Ask them how much money is owed on your mortgage.
- Arrange a valuation with your provider.
- Get your house valued.
- Compare the valuation and the amount you owe.
- If the value of your property is less than the amount you owe on your mortgage, you are in negative equity.
How You May Be Able To Avoid Negative Equity
If you’re thinking of buying a house and want to protect yourself against negative equity, here are some steps that could help:
- Question the asking price – Are you paying the market value for the property? Research online and speak to experts to get an idea if you’re paying a fair price.
- Buy at the right time – Prices for the same property can change depending on when you buy. Understanding when property prices are high or low can help you decide the best time to buy.
- Pay a bigger deposit – The larger your deposit, the more equity you will have in the property. This can make it less likely that you will fall into negative equity.
- Avoid interest-only deals – These mean the equity in your property could potentially remain low.
What You Should Do If You Have Negative Equity
Try not to worry if you discover you’re in negative equity – if it’s just by a small amount, changing house prices may move you back into positive equity. You have a few options to try and get back into positive equity:
- Continue as normal. Continue making repayments as you normally would and wait for equity to build. This is a long-term option for people not thinking about moving house.
- Overpay your mortgage. Paying more than your agreed monthly mortgage payments can reduce how much you owe more quickly. Find out more about overpayments.
Gaffsy buys properties in negative equity and is the cheapest way to sell your property, avoiding costs such as agents’ fees, estate agents’ charges, solicitors’ fees, clearance costs, utility charges, mortgage payments and cosmetic repair costs.
*Gaffsy buys properties in negative equity
* With Gaffsy you can get your house valuation quickly, and complete on your house sale fast with no fees.
* Gaffsy is the cheapest way to sell your property, avoiding costs such as agents’ fees, estate agents’ charges, solicitors’ fees, clearance costs, utility charges, mortgage payments and cosmetic repair costs.
* The best part is that we sell houses fast! So much quicker than estate agents where sometimes they don’t sell at all.
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