TSP 610188 Swindon
No. 156 ' April 1995 • Circulation 15,000
cy 7
KAR HIRE
MOVING HOUSE? /—Sack Trucks / Bankets/ Ties/
Distributed in West Swindon, Haydon Wick, Woodhall Park & Abbey Meads
The positive newsforce in West and North Swindon
TSP
KAR HIRE
Swindon 610188
MOVING
SELF HOUSE? DRIVE CARS VANS - MINI-BUSES
and the swindon wide what's on guide
EXCLUSIVE
Negative equity research finds victims battling through
New village centre shop to rise from flames
The results of a research project focussing on the problems faced by housebuyers caught in the negative equity trap will soon be published. Hazel Christie from Cambridge University appealed for help with her research from people with negative equity or in mortgage arrears in the January 1994 Link magazine. She reports her findings exclusively for us. Sometimes the newspapers make for depressing reading with reports about all manner of social problems. One issue much highlighted in the national press which is particularly common in West Swindon is negative equity - when the value of a mortgage is above the sale value of the property. Hazel Christie
The area has been very badly affected because many people moved to the area in the late 1980s and early 1990s when prices were high and rising. For many of these households the current market price of the property may be as much as 30% below the price they The aftermath of the Freshbrook Centre ram raid on 16 March paid for the house. First time buyers are stuck in Freshbrook should have a new convenience store by the end of small one bedroomed flats they April. Dillons supermarket was destroyed by fire caused by a cannot sell. They watch nervously stolen car driven through the front window in the early hours of 16 as the biological time clock keeps March. ticking and still they can't sell and Damage to the store is estimated at £250,000. As a temporary move to a bigger house where they measure, staff have set up a caravan to sell newspapers and basic items while waiting for refurbishment. can start a family. People lose their jobs and can't The post office have asked customers to use branches at Toothill find anything at a comparable or Shaw Village Centres, or at the West Swindon Centre. wage level and mortgage arrears 'We're still trading,' say Sue Collins of Cut 'n Dry hair salon and accumulate quickly. Families lose Francis Leung of Freshbrook Takeaway whose businesses are their homes because they haven't located in adjacent premises. Comments from Sue and Francis on been able to find enough money to page 6. meet the debt. And some couples have been caught in a benefits trap where it makes more sense not to work at all.
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