Home Ownership in Crisis? (The British Experience of Negative Equity)

First published in 1999, this book brings together the findings from research projects funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions. The programme of research examined the problems faced by home owners with the collapse of the property market in the late 1980s. The book focuses on households with negative equity and uses analyzes of secondary data sets, social surveys and in-depth interviews to explore the implications of the fall in property values for both households and the wider economy. In particular it examines the kinds of coping strategies adopted by home owners in relation to debt and mobility. Home Ownership in Crisis? thus gets beyond aggregate estimates and offers the reader a detailed understanding of what negative equity actually means for the individuals concerned. Moreover, by exposing a range of circumstances in which negative equity arises, the book also informs debates about the kinds of policy initiatives which may be appropriate in dealing with a more volatile economic environment in Britain and elsewhere.