Some homeowners have been left with no choice but to downsize, according to a new survey.
The financial crisis is forcing numerous homeowners to sell their homes and move to smaller properties in order to reduce their mortgage repayments, new research shows.
According to a survey by the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA), more than a fifth of homes currently up for sale have been put on the market because their owners cannot afford to keep them.
The organisation questioned a number of estate agents and more than half said that at least two in ten of the properties on their books were being sold by so-called forced downsizers.
One in five of those polled said that 50 percent of their current sellers had put their properties on the market because they were having difficulty keeping up with their mortgage repayments.
"It is those homeowners who were on cheap fixed-rate mortgage deals who cannot replace them and are struggling with the rise in repayments," explained Peter Bolton King, chief executive of the NAEA.
The publication of the survey comes as figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders show that the number of repossessions being carried out in the UK increased by 12 percent in the three months to the end of September.
