Credit crunch takes toll on UK housing says National Hombuyers

New data released by Nationwide has revealed that the UK housing market continues to slow in the wake of the ongoing credit crisis.

[UKPRwire, Fri Sep 28 2007] Annual house price growth fell to just nine per cent in September - the lowest level in almost a year - as prospective homebuyers display increasing unease about the prospect of taking out a mortgage and running into financial difficulty and possibly having their home repossessed.

"Higher wholesale funding costs are now clearly leading to a reassessment of the pricing of credit in the mortgage market," said Nationwide's chief economist, Fionnuala Earley.

"Mortgage rates are rising further as a consequence of the liquidity crunch pushing up money market interest rates, while the Northern Rock crisis may jilt confidence and increase consumers' wariness about buying a house."

Another indicator of the downturn is the slowing of the three-month on three-month rate of price growth - widely seen as the best indicator of underlying momentum in the market - which fell from two per cent to 1.6 per cent.

It is likely that these figures will lead to a surge in people looking for a quick property sale as homeowners try to shift their property before prices begin to drop.

Julian King of National Homebuyers says, "This is such a difficult time for anyone looking to sell their home.

"The average time on the market is esclating; there are fewer buyers available and property prices are - in most areas - hugely over valued.

"A vendor looking for a quick sale will need to consider options available other than marketing their home on the open market".

National Homebuyers are the UK's leading fast property sale company, guaranteeing to make an offer to purchase any UK property for homeowners who need a quick sale.

New research from Abbey has also suggested that nearly four in ten homeowners would steer clear of a tracker mortgage if they had to remortgage tomorrow.

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