Monday, October 29, 2007

House Prices Fall

House prices in Britain fell for the first time in two years in October, according to a survey by Hometrack.

The average cost of a home in England and Wales declined 0.1% to £176,100 from September. Whilst prices in central London fell by 0.5%.

Consumers are now sitting on debt of over £1.4 trillion.

The Bank of England stated that UK banks have approved the fewest mortgages in 26 months in September. Lenders have granted 102,000 loans for house purchases, the fewest since July 2005 and down from 108,000 in August.

The Bank of England needs to wake up to the fact that, whatever its high moral principles about excess debt, there are a large number of people sitting on debt that they cannot afford to service.

Like it or not, cuts in rates are necessary to avoid the economy going into freefall.

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