OTHER NEWS - Aug. 17, 1992

Problems for British Homeowners: About one in 10 British homeowners lives in a house that is worth less than the mortgage used to finance its purchase, the central Bank of England reported. The condition, known as “negative equity,” has been widely blamed for keeping Britain’s residential property market in the doldrums and hurting both consumer confidence and the economy at large. The central bank’s report suggests that 876,000 households became victims of negative equity by last March. Rising mortgage arrears have lifted the figure to 1 million since then--one in 10 homeowners.