Mortgage holders have been advised that making overpayments while interest rates are low can potentially help protect their equity "in the short term".
Homeowners worried about the equity in their home can boost their situation by making overpayments on their mortgages, it has been claimed.
According to Bernard Clarke, spokesperson for the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), the UK's weak housing market means that many homes could be losing equity. However, he explained that in the long term these properties would still grow in value.
But because the Bank of England has set interest rates to a record low of 1.5 percent, it means that the interest on repayments is far lower than it has been in recent times. Paying extra back on a mortgage while these rates remain low could potentially help homeowners, if they have enough capital.
"That helps to protect them from the [possible] consequences; perhaps the amount of equity [in their home is] falling as a result of falling property prices," he said.
"People are still likely to build equity in property over the lifetime of their mortgage but during this short period - of perhaps a couple of years while house prices are falling - their equity will be declining and so it is a way of protecting their equity in the short term," Mr Clarke concluded.
