A RECORD number of homes are being repossessed by the banks but real estate agents in the Macarthur region say there has never been a better time to buy.
A steady drop in house prices over the past two years has created a housing anomaly where homes bought between 2001 and 2004 are worth less than the mortgages on them, but houses sold today are considered bargains.
"I think the main reason is that values have gone down to a level where they couldn't sell and get the money back they paid on them - it's negative equity.
Mr Copeland said while he dealt with the banks and not the original owners in a repossession sale, in his experience the reasons for the sales were rarely the people but huge mortgages.
"Often it is the family circumstances changing, they lose an income for whatever reason, they are divorcing or commonly they got greedy and put holidays, cars or extensions on their mortgage so the mortgage is higher than the value of the house."
Richardson & Wrench Campbelltown and Ingleburn sales manager Russell Wyer said mortgagee sales at his agency had stabilised but he still averaged five a month.
"We have found these sales are predominantly at the lower end of the market where people were financing 90 per cent or 100 per cent of their loan amount," he said.
"At the same time the softening of house prices is allowing more first home buyers to get into the market at prices that are not much higher than rents."
"I think it is often the incidentals that put people over the edge," he said. "It's the cost of fuel, insurance, health insurance, car rego - just the general cost of living."
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