Housing market will double dip, says Reuters...

19 November 2010

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Written by rosalind renshaw

The housing market is in for a double dip, a new Reuters poll of 30 housing market analysts found.

The poll, taken over the past week, found over two-thirds predicting UK house prices will “double dip”, with most expecting a 5% fall from current levels.

One economist, John Hawkesworth at PwC (Price Waterhouse Coopers), said: “There are likely to be further falls in house prices over the next year given the dampening effect of the fiscal squeeze, restricted mortgage availability and fragile household confidence levels.”

Another analyst, Ray Boulger of brokers John Charcol, said: “In the short term the biggest risk to house prices is the FSA’s Mortgage Market Review.”

The poll showed monthly mortgage approvals stagnating at around 50,000, less than half the 104,000 monthly average in 2007.

Comments

- Simon Green
The FSA are proposing that in future mortgages will only be lent "IF the borrower can afford to repay it."

Ray Boulger of John Charcol has repeated stated that he is vehemently opposed to such proposals. So is he suggesting that he and his company would prefer to lend to people who can not afford to repay the loan?
Is he not aware that lending practices like this recently brought the USA to it's knees and is the reason why Ireland is now verging on bankruptcy?

I think the FSA should look into HIS lending practices as they appear to be at best reckless and unsustainable, and worse verging on the fraudulent.

The FSA are doing what they failed to do ten years ago.
- 19 November 2010 12:21 PM
- Market Observer
Ray Boulger is being either dishonest or doesn't know his facts.

The FSA isn't going to introduce new mortgage market regulations until 'after the market stabalises', which won't be for another couple of years at least. In what way is that "in the short term the biggest risk"?

Is it anything to do with the fact that Ray makes his living selling exotic mortgages and therefore the FSA is a big threat to his business? To everyone else what they are proposing is very sensible.
- 19 November 2010 10:20 AM