1,5 million people in the UK “own” houses with a mortgage that is a lot higher then the value of their houses. Many people in the UK got a mortgage for their property, without having enough money – but still they received a mortgage by the banks too easily.
Now, 2 things can happen, that also happened in the past in other countries:
1. The interests rates rise (e.g. double ?) and people need to remortgage.
2. People then can not afford it anymore and need to sell the house
3. Houses are only worth half of what they were bought for and banks have a problem.
4. Some banks might go bust…other people loose their money too.