Released on: April 15, 2008, 8:28 am

Press Release Author: Jim watson

Industry: Real Estate

Press Release Summary: As pre-emptive strikes go, few might indicate more strongly
an expectation that interest rates will be cut next month than news today that both
Nationwide and Halifax are raising the interest rates on their tracker mortgages.

Press Release Body: As pre-emptive strikes go, few might indicate more strongly an
expectation that interest rates will be cut next month than news today that both
Nationwide and Halifax are raising the interest rates on their tracker mortgages.

Of course, rising mortgage rates, alongside tighter lending criteria, have been a
feature of the credit crunch in recent months, but the fact that two of the biggest
lenders took such action on the same day may not be coincidence, least of all in the
case of Nationwide.

Earlier today, Nationwide released its latest monthly house price figures, showing a
fifth successive monthly fall in house prices, a dip of 0.6 per cent compared with
0.5 per cent in February. This has brought the annual rate of house price inflation
down to just 1.1 per cent, with chief economist Fionnuala Earley commenting that \"a
clear change in sentiment since the late summer has led to the sharp slowing in
house price growth, even in the less volatile three-month on three-month series\".

With all this, Ms Earley predicted, would come a change in interest rates next
month. Describing the minutes of the latest Bank of England monetary policy
committee (MPC) meeting as \"rather doveish\", she added: \"While recognising that the
MPC still had a difficult path to tread, were perhaps more accepting of room for a
cut in rates sooner rather than later.\" She suggested that now the potential
negative interpretation that a back-to-back rate reduction would mean inflation
having a lower priority than growth has been avoided, along with the recent HBOS
false rumour scare and the Bear Stearns collapse, would prompt the change.

Reuters noted today that its poll of economists last week also expected a rate cut,
with more to follow until the base rates fall as low as 4.5 per cent next year. Like
Nationwide, its surveyed experts has also predicted an overall fall in house prices
will now occur this year.

It may certainly be because of Nationwide\'s rate trimming expectation that it has
acted to protect its profits against the lower income that would accrue from
dropping mortgage payments for tracker mortgage holders. For investors, today\'s data
indicates that where mortgages need to be taken for buy-to-let deals, care should be
taken to find what is best as lenders seek to secure profits. At the same time, if
prices are falling, this does open up the prospect of greater affordability,
something anyone looking to buy, be they buy-to-let investors or residential
housebuyers, can look forward to.

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

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