You are here: cherry > Press releases for June 2011 > Comments from Nick Hopkinson, Director of property firm PPR Estates, on today?s latest lending data from the Bank of England

29 June 2011

?It?s clear that there has been no ?Spring bounce? in the UK housing market this year with new loan approvals for home purchases actually less in May than they were in February in the depths of winter. Even at the height of summer the overall UK property market remains frozen at winter transaction levels as sellers, lenders and borrowers are all scared off. ?As an active landlord, it?s been clear to me for some time that there are many thousands of home owners who are hanging on to their homes by a thread as they struggle with increasing inflation and falling household incomes, even though interest rates remain at historic lows. Recent admissions by senior bankers that they have been allowing people to move to interest-only mortgages on a large scale to keep repossessions artificially low confirms what many property experts suspected. ?Unfortunately, this strategy will only make the inevitable interest rate time bomb much worse for both the banks, the individuals concerned and confidence in the overall market when interest costs have to increase. With austerity measures getting into full swing, retailers failing daily and consumer sentiment on the floor it can only be a matter of time before the real value of many people?s homes is exposed as much lower than they might wish to think regardless of what happens to interest rates.? If you would like to speak to Nick, you can contact him on 07768 144497. Ends

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