Gavin Hoffen, a mortgage negotiator at Andrews estate agents in Old Town Picture Ref: 78696-18PEOPLE who exaggerate incomes to land their dream home are playing a dangerous game, an estate agent has warned.

New figures show 179 people in Swindon are on the brink of losing their homes as interest rate hikes begin to bite and mortgage lenders start court action to recover property.

Gavin Hoffen, a mortgage negotiator at Andrew's estate agents in Old Town, blames exaggerated self-certificate mortgage applications.

The 179 repossession actions launched in county courts between April and June compares to 98 in the same period of 2004.

In May the Advertiser predicted problems when we ran a front-page story revealing repossessions had more than doubled in just 12 months.

The figures for the first three months of the year showed that 48 homes were repossessed in Swindon between January and March compared to 22 in the same time last year.

The second quarter has seen the number of repossession orders actually made go up from 33 last year to 42.

Mr Hoffen believes many in Swindon could be setting themselves up for a fall.

"People are exaggerating their incomes to get higher mortgages," he said.

"And people who do that are leaving themselves wide open to repossession.

"It tends to be those who are self-employed who are doing this.

"When business takes a bit of a dive they find they can't make the repayments."

Mr Hoffen advises potential homeowners to work out a sensible budget before putting pen to paper.

"Do not overstretch yourself that is the key," he said. "You should be able to afford a Saturday night out and live comfortably on your income. That way if you hit hard times you can sacrifice first before the mortgage repayments."

An 'action entered' is the first step in the process for seizing a property, where a lender issues a summons in a county court.

As well as the 42 repossession orders made in Swindon between April to June county courts also granted 43 suspended orders where repossession is postponed as long as the homeowner pays debts and keeps up with mortgage payments.

Other experts believe the main reason for homeowners running into trouble is the increase in the cost of borrowing from 3.5 per cent in November 2003 to 4.75 per cent last August.

The successive interest rate hikes increased typical mortgage payments by 42 per cent over the last 18 months.

And, over the same period, a booming housing market encouraged many first-time buyers to overstretch themselves to get a foot on the property ladder.

However, economists are predicting that the Bank of England's monetary policy committee will cut interest rates by 0.25 per cent to 4.5 per cent tomorrow.

Mr Hoffen added: "I think people can remember times when interest rates were higher than they were now.

"There is no excuse people should not overstretch."

Kevin Shoesmith and Mark Hookham