Recent research from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) shows that, while the amount of unmortgaged housing wealth held by individual borrowers varies enormously, the aggregate loan-to-value ratio on mortgaged property in the UK is less than 60%.

While allowing for recent house price weakness, CML say that the vast majority of individual borrowers still have a substantial cushion of equity in their homes. Nearly half of existing borrowers have outstanding mortgage debts equivalent to less than 70% of the value of their home, while a further quarter have an equity cushion of between 10% and 30% of the propertys value. This means that borrowers overall hold unmortgaged housing wealth worth around £800 billion.

The number of borrowers in negative equity today is broadly comparable with 2008. The latest CML research suggests that 827,000 households had some negative equity in the first quarter of 2011. The extent of negative equity in the current downturn does not compare with the early 1990s, when it is estimated that the number of households experiencing it peaked at 1.6 million.

Some parts of the country have seen greater weakness in house prices in the current cycle and are therefore more likely to have borrowers in negative equity. Northern Ireland, Yorkshire and Humberside and the north east of England are in this category.

CML director general Paul Smee said: "Negative equity is much less common than in the 1990s, and in the current cycle low interest rates and a relatively stable employment market are providing more options for borrowers in difficulty.

"There is no direct relationship between negative equity and mortgage payment problems. What typically causes difficulty for households is not a nominal fall in housing value but an unexpected change in personal circumstances, like the loss of a job or the breakdown of a family relationship."