Is the worst of the recession over?

There are a variety of articles being released commenting that the worst of the recession could be over, but the latest figures show the number of shops, retail outlets, public houses, etc, etc, closing is increasing, the number of people being made redundant is increasing and also the number of people trying to stop repossession is increasing. So is the worst of the recession actually over?

The latest figures released by ‘The Local Data Company (LDC)’, has revealed that the number of commercial premises becoming vacant is substantially higher than last year. The have said that there was a 4% vacancy rate last year but it has risen to a 12% vacancy rate this year so far. There have been around 19,000 independent and major chain shops/branches close so far this year. I think that we were all shocked last year when Woolworths closed all of their branches, they had over 800 stores. The number of the stores which still remain vacant due to no one being able to take the premises is phenomenal.

If you were to look at this from another angle this means that there are more and more people being made redundant and business owners under extreme financial pressure. The last thing business owners would want to do is to close their business, because this looks bad on business. There are also a large number of business owners securing business loans against there homes or they are refinancing their homes to put capital into their business; this is potentially putting them in a position of their home being repossessed if their business doesn’t succeed.  If they are unable to pay the loan/finance that they have secured against their home, they may be in a position later down the line where they have to try and stop repossession.

If you are trying to stop repossession of your home, have you considered a quick sale?