Released on: December 11, 2007, 8:24 am

Press Release Author: Jim watson

Industry: Real Estate

Press Release Summary: Following the credit crunch and the interest rate increases
over the last 16 months, the housing market has seen a significant slowdown. With
Halifax revealing a 1.1 per cent house price fall for November on the back of
smaller falls in September and October

Press Release Body: Following the credit crunch and the interest rate increases over
the last 16 months, the housing market has seen a significant slowdown. With Halifax
revealing a 1.1 per cent house price fall for November on the back of smaller falls
in September and October, the situation looked less than promising for the market.

Not surprisingly, those involved in the housing industry have been calling for a
rate cut, adding to the pressure applied by signs of a wider economic slowdown. In
contrast, there have been concerns that factors such as rising fuel and food prices
would make the inflationary risks too great to risk a cut.

So tight was the decision facing the monetary policy committee (MPC) that economists
predicting either outcome admitted they could not do so with any confidence. Global
Insight\'s chief UK and European economist Howard Archer said: \"We are going for no
change, but we wouldn\'t be surprised if they do. It\'s right on the margin.\" One who
was expecting the MPC to trim the rate, Ian Kernohan of Royal London Asset
Management, said: \"On balance, I\'m still looking for a cut, but it\'s a very close
call.\"

It may turn out that the decision was made, as in January and June, by the closest
possible margin of five to four, but the reasoning behind it was clear enough. In
its statement announcing the cut, the MPC said that it believed the general slowdown
in the economy would help keep inflation at bay, making a rate cut feasible. Such
reasoning bears comparison with the longer-term analysis in the November inflation
report that inflation could hit its targets even with interest rate cuts. That
analysis had prompted predictions of two or three cuts in 2008. In the end, the same
reasoning may have simply been brought forward.

Naturally enough, the housing industry has been pleased by the news. The director
general of the Council of Mortgage Lenders, Michael Coogan, said: \"A reduction in
interest rates is exactly what the market needs and will benefit consumers,\" while
Peter Bolton-King, chief executive of the national Association of Estate Agents,
said: \"I\'m hopeful this will be the turning point in consumer confidence that will
set the market back on track again.\"

The hope for the housing industry, from investors to first-time buyers, will be that
this is indeed a watershed. Already banks are cutting their mortgage rates to
reflect the change, with HSBC, Nationwide and Halifax promptly announcing such
moves. With Scottish Widows Investment Partnership predicting that rates will go on
being cut to reach five per cent by the middle of 2008, the housing market may soon
be in much better shape.

In today\'s world Property investment is an excellent investment option especially
investment in UK

Web Site: http://www.assetz.co.uk

Contact Details: Address:Assetz House, Newby Road, Stockport,Cheshire,SK7 5DA

fax:0845 400 6010

email:linkexchangeseo@gmail.com