House prices still increasing
Despite the rocky financial markets and worries about housing, house prices in the UK continue to increase. The annual rate of increase in house values was 9%, slower than it has been over the year, but still higher than the 8.8% predicted.
Fears over the current state of the economy in the UK seem to have been alleviated somewhat by the revelations from a recent survey performed by the Nationwide Building Society. There are still speculations of of a noticeable housing slump in the future. As prices continue to increase well above the rate of any salary increases, the demand for houses will drop simply because people cannot afford to buy them. Especially as mortgage and interest rates rise and lenders get tougher with their borrowing criteria.
As the US seems to be experiencing a major housing slump, the dollar continues to weaken against the Euro and sterling. We may have a few problems but we still have a fairly strong economy at present, hopefully it will stay that way for a while.
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