Many Tories blame John Major's loss to Tony Blair in 1997 on Black Wednesday. On 16th Sept 1992, the UK govt tried to defend the pound by raising interest rates, from 10% to 12%, and then to 15%. In the event, the pound crashed out of the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) that day, and the interest rate rises were cancelled. Further, outside the ERM, interest rates got cut quickly. But the lore is that voters were so frightened that day, they never forgave John Major.
The more likely cause of the election defeat was negative equity. House prices in 1997 were below their 1990 levels, they didn't recover till 1999.
The cause was the early 1990's recession. Unemployment soared to over 10% and those who lost their jobs had their homes repossessed as they couldn't keep up with their mortgages.
Repossessed houses tend to get dumped on the market for a quick sale, and it's this forced selling that tanks house prices. In the absence of repossession, there is no forced selling; instead homeowners hunker down and wait it out, as long as they can keep paying the mortgage.
Could it happen again?
There are a few differences between the situation in the 90's and 2023, best illustrated by the following graph from the English Housing Survey:
What seems to have happened is that when interest rates were cut in the Great Financial Crash of 2008/9, lots of householders used the money freed up by rate cuts to overpay their mortgages, instead of spending the money.
So by 2012, the number of people who owned their homes outright outnumbered those who own with a mortgage.
In the early 90's about 40% owned their homes with a mortgage, compared to 20% who owned outright.
Now 35% of households own outright, compared to 30% who own with a mortgage. So the number "at risk" is lower.
The other factor is unemployment. It's currently at 3.9%, and would have to rise above 7% before mortgagees start losing their jobs and being repossessed.
Add in that about 40% of mortgagees are on low fixed rate mortgages they took out in 2020/21, and the likelihood of mass reposessions and forced sales is low.