More than a fifth of subprime homeowners in the UK have fallen behind with their mortgage repayments, figures indicated today.
The proportion of borrowers with poor credit histories more than 30 days in arrears slipped to 21.73% during the first quarter of this year, ratings agency Standard & Poor's said.
The figure has worsened from the 19.41% seen during the previous three months, and compares to 18.11% for the same period last year.
S&P's data showed that those sub-prime borrowers falling into 'serious delinquency', 90 days or more behind, edged into double figures at 10.6%.
The firm surveyed just under £35 billion sterling of subprime mortgage debt, around 80% of the total UK subprime market. Its findings add to the growing body of evidence this year suggesting more and more homeowners are struggling to make ends meet.
S&P's study found there was also a sharp increase in top-rated borrowers struggling with repayments. The proportion of homeowners in the 'prime' category more than 30 days in arrears surveyed rose to 2.41% during the first quarter of this year, up from 2.11% during the previous three months.
The research, which is the most detailed yet this year into the health of the UK's mortgage market, means that more than £13 billion of loans held by both prime and sub-prime borrowers are now in default.
Earlier this month Government statistics showed a sharp rise in the number of people struggling with homeloan repayments. Ministry of Justice data showed that a total of 27,530 mortgage repossession orders were made during the first three months of 2008, up 17% from the same period a year ago and the highest level for 16 years.
Meanwhile, the Council of Mortgage Lenders is forecasting that the number of UK repossessions this year will be 45,000, up from 27,100 last year. There were a total of nearly 76,000 during 1991, the height of the UK's last recession, with a total of 142,905 repossession orders during the year.
Lenders have been asked to do more to help homeowners falling behind in their payments, including exploring other alternatives to repossession.
