August 24, 2007 (LPAC)--Writing from London, the International Herald Tribune reports that, "As Americans tremble at fear of an epidemic of mortgage foreclosures, Britain is already living one. Foreclosures here are at an eight-year high. So far, lenders have repossessed a record of 14,000 properties this year, 30 percent more than a year earlier, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders. And an additional 125,100 households are behind in their mortgage payments." Analysts say that, "Britain might face its own subprime mortgage crisis as consumers tarnished with credit histories find that only sub-prime lenders are willing to work with them" repeating what happened in the U.S. To avoid being thrown out, people go for "sale and rent back" A private company buys the house for 75 percent of its value, with no guarantee they will be allowed to stay. With the money, people pay both rent and mortgage. But only 5 percent of British homebuyers take out fixed-rate mortgages, and mortgage rates have skyrocketed as the BoE raised interest rates 5 times over the past 12 months. The three largest mortgage lenders in Britain are HBOS, Abbey and Nationwide.