Don’t be fooled by the drop in home repossessions

On the face of it, there was good news for Britain's housing market this week as the number of repossessions fell. But don't get too excited, says Matthew Partridge. UK house prices are still heading for a 'double dip'.

Some good news for Britain's homeowners at last.

The banks only repossessed 8,500 homes in the second quarter of the year, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). That's a drop of 1,000 on the first quarter, and the lowest number in nearly two years.

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Dr Matthew Partridge
Shares editor, MoneyWeek

Matthew graduated from the University of Durham in 2004; he then gained an MSc, followed by a PhD at the London School of Economics.

He has previously written for a wide range of publications, including the Guardian and the Economist, and also helped to run a newsletter on terrorism. He has spent time at Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the consultancy Lombard Street Research.

Matthew is the author of Superinvestors: Lessons from the greatest investors in history, published by Harriman House, which has been translated into several languages. His second book, Investing Explained: The Accessible Guide to Building an Investment Portfolio, is published by Kogan Page.

As senior writer, he writes the shares and politics & economics pages, as well as weekly Blowing It and Great Frauds in History columns He also writes a fortnightly reviews page and trading tips, as well as regular cover stories and multi-page investment focus features.

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @DrMatthewPartri