Property Update: Left with the bill

FIRST the good news: prices of first-buyer flats in central London have stopped falling. Now the bad news: this is because hard-pressed owners have already been forced out or are hanging on until prices rise again, says Tom Trudgian of Stern Studios. Meanwhile, two-thirds are locked in because the property is worth less than their mortgage, a particularly acute problem for flat sharers whose partners have fled and left them with the whole monthly bill.