The Property Sales People

Good news! The Bank of England has today reduced the bank rate by 0.25%. This is a step which in itself will have little impact on mortgages etc but it does send a positive signal to hard pressed borrowers. If nothing else it indicates light at the end of the tunnel. Many people have experienced £150 a month rises in the cost of their mortgage and this has come about because most mortgages these days are adjusted annually or are fixed rates or discounted rates. Add in to this scenario the recent hike in fuel costs – diesel locally at £1.09 per litre! and you can see why consumer demand has slowed. In my opinion interest rates have always been something of a blunt instrument when it comes to slowing down the property market. In the late 1980’s and early 90’s interest rates rose to, albeit briefly, 15%. The property market was decimated and what needed a touch on the brakes began to appear as though someone had removed the wheels. It isn’t necessary to go to this extreme. They need to be...

When Will House Prices Finally Crash? – 24/11/2006 Money Week Is there going to be a house price crash? – 2/11/2007 Thisismoney UK house-price bubble about to burst – IMF 18 October 2007 Nick McDermott, Daily Mail Every newspaper, pundit, lender, estate agent, developer, builder and householder would like to know the answer to ‘What’s Going to Happen to House prices’. If you read the newspapers last weekend from broadsheet to tabloid then your only conclusion could really be that they don’t know! I think the Sunday Express probably came close when they said that the Government/Bank of England probably has 90 days to avert the same sort of crash that occurred in the late 1980’s to early ‘90’s. Of those 90 days 30 have already gone so the clock is ticking and the next 30 days are mainly holiday time over Christmas when not a lot happens in the property market anyway. A reduction in interest rates by the Bank of England may not actually have an impact on mortgages but it would send a sign...