Extracted from the BBC web site reporting on today's reduction in Base Rate to 2%
'I am dead keen to buy a flat or house. This is all good news, surely?
The interest rate on your prospective mortgage will probably be lower.
But, frankly, paying your monthly repayments will not be your big problem, so long as you keep your job.
The main way in which mortgages are being rationed is by lenders demanding large deposits.
Most mortgage deals now require 15%, 20% or even 25% as a down payment. And the best deals require deposits of 40%.
There is a good reason for this, by the way.
House prices are still falling fast and some experts think they could fall another 20% this coming year.
How happy will you be if our home has lost a fifth of its value in 12 months' time?
Think before you buy. '
What I'd really like to know is who are the 'experts' and how do they calculate the 20%? Quoting it virtually makes it a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Well this 'expert' says prices will start to recover in early 2009. They will initially stop falling – even the Nationwide says that the rate of fall has slowed – then begin to bottom out. We have already had 14 months of falling house prices and difficult market conditions. Come on BBC, don't make it worse!
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