UK: House prices post record annual fall
Posted by: Joshuah in Economics, tags: house pricesSource: Top News | Reuters
House prices fell for the seven month running in August to stand a record 12.7 percent lower than a year earlier, a survey showed on Thursday, in a sign the property downturn has already turned into a crash.HBOS, Britain’s biggest mortgage lender, said house prices in the world’s fourth biggest economy fell 1.8 percent last month alone, as the global credit crunch had made it much harder for people to get mortgages.
But Bank of England policymakers are expected to hold interest rates at 5 percent for a fifth straight month when they end their meeting at noon due to concerns over inflation, currently running at more than double the bank’s target.
More than 25,000 pounds has been wiped off the value of the average home in the last year as a decade-long boom turned into a bust that helped bring the economy to a standstill in the second quarter of 2008.
Construction and retail companies have been among the hardest hit and consumer confidence has been battered as two-thirds of British households own their homes — and economists say it could get a lot worse.
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