Property Prices UK

It appears everything property wise is on hold for Christmas and New Year - quite what 2008 holds no one is certain, some think a soft landing and levelling others say a constant yet apparently gentle reversal - we still think 12% off house prices for 2008

Commercial property, especially funds, are taking hits and far more will be revealed in 2008 - we think

Gordon gets it right - Mervyn King Northern Wreck & Nationalisation

Bravo Gordon, Brown not the locomotive, Mervyn King is the right bloke, now, past and future, quote what all the fuss is was about we can't understand

Vince Cable is as big a gap to fill for the Liberals as was John Smith for the Labour crew - and his suggestion of nationailsation of Northern Wreck had been ignored for more than long enough, get someone in control, sort the fat cat salaries out (what, this Labour bunch?) examine the model and get on with it

Nationalisation would save face for Labour yes, but we are certainly no fans of doing that, helping them even but something does have to be done - now, sooner than yesterday if possible

Credit Crunch & Millions of Mortgages

Unfortunately all our predictions keep on being proved right

Yesterday the Daily Mail headlined about 1,000,000 people not being able to afford thier mortgage payments and today Provident, the doorstep lender is reported to have said we have another 18 months of fall out from the credit crunch

Both of these firms could have asked us 6 or 8 or even 12 weeks ago and we could have told them!

Credit Crunch Crash

Commentators reckon the Credit crunch is here to stay - to a certain degree we accept that central banks are putting in too little, too late and all this will so is soften the landing of the crash

Lloyds TSB & Credit contagion 'likely to spread'

Whilst Lloyds appear or claim relative safety from the meltdown in economies around the World it does not mean that the "contagion" will not spread

Swiss banks we have all to often thought of as meaning safety - secrecy even, and discretion - we at MyCbi had our own experience back in 1990 to dispel any sense of fair play that we had held, but we are minnows so why would the Swiss bank bother

Now things seem different, USB the giant swiss bank has revealed £7bn of sub-prime mortgage losses so far this year and its Chief Executive has reportedly gone cap in hand to Singapore seeking to bolster its capital

Given that it raises finance, it won't come cheap, we think!

Homeowners forced to sell warning - CML - DSS - DWP

Financial Times yesterday ran a header that some homeowners may be forced to sell thier home

Yes we can see that beacuase, as the article says, those who have had, or have recently gained a poor credit rating will find it near impossible, with remortgage funds virtually drying up, to remortgage at favourable terms

Mortgage payments could, in effect rise by 50% or even more after thier fixed rate comes to an end

Calls are being made to have Department Social Services of Department Work and Pensions provide some extra or interim help for those struggling so as to help protect not just those homeowners but the market also

Yes, something needs to be done but DSS assisted in the last 12 months is always a downer as far as a new remortgage application is concerned and such help could put those homeowners on to the 'adverse list' for ages to come, in the strictest interpretation it could be a rolling period of 6 years from the last DWP or DSS subsidy payment

Of course, whilst mortgage payments are 'out of reach' missed payments on not just mortgage but also cards and loans occurr and this too perpetuates the rolling 6 year poor credit issue

Since there will be an ever increasing number of Sale and Rent Back players and deals it is imperative that this is quickly regulated so as to prevent the companies of sharp paractice, recently one of the bigger players went in to receivership having not paid the mortgages of the homes they had bought under the schemes and, having pocketed the rents now leave those tenants, the former homeowner, high, dry and homeless having lost all of thier equity - regulate, now, hard and fast, quickly!

Bank Rate - Credit Crunch - House Price Crash - Lenders Fees

So base rate has been reduced and some commentators reckon Bank of England Base Rate could be as low as 4% by 2009 - we disagree on that but do see it 4.5% by this time next year, the end of 2008 but not falling in 2009

This crash, and crash it is, reflects the crash of '89 in that earlier in the 80's bank rate was falsely or perhaps rather, wrongly, low - we saw 3.5% this time round, and we have commented on this before

So a further .25% reduction is expected in February and May 2008 - well yes but we would not be surprised if it wasn't January March and May or June and a further quarter percent needing to come off after the summer

Inflation does need to be controlled - unless everyone and every business is going to cease buying or spending, then it doesn't matter - so, clearly inflation needs to be controlled and base rate is the primary way to curb spending, the other of course is VAT or purchase tax but will this Government dare do that as well as increase income tax, which they will have to!??

The Credit Crunch has frightened off banks from lending to each other - again we repeat ourselves, they need to accumulate some cash of their own, for reserves and for future lending and this leads us to the Daily Mail today page 20, the headline reads 'A new mortgage? That'll be £10,000'

Okay so the lenders are charging huge fees - maybe the Daily Comic ought to understand why and disclose its findings?

As interest rates increased from that false low of 3.5% there was certainly implied pressure, if not direct from Chancellor or Governor to keep mortgage rates and deals low, or as low as possible

And, all of the lenders want/wanted, to be high in the 'best buy' tables so, what they lose/lost in rate, they could recoup in charges - please, any reader hear, tell me you wouldn't do the same?

So, if as with a client of ours one wants a low or lowest monthly pay rate, fixed for 5 years, the Leeds Building Society are/were offering 4.99% - but the lenders arrangement fee is/was 3% of the loan and it can/could be added to the loan

Really these fee's hadn't ought to be added since interest on some £14,000 as was the case for our client is £698.60 per year during the five years fixed rate alone, another 10 years then at SVR is around another £1088 per year, just on the fee!

And, though the pay rate is much lower, shouldn't we all just own up and pay the going rate? If this product had been charged at SVR of say 7.75% then would have been no significant lenders fee, and so no discussion, but nor would be all that extra interest being charged

Like it or not (we don't) the lenders do have to charge these fees if they are to remain in profit or in business

No lenders fees means higher pay rates and no discounts or fixed rate deals - sorry but we cannot have it both ways, unless ....................... SVR become pegged at say 3% over base (it had always until now been between 1.5 & 2% over base) so that different lenders can price different products accordingly to tempt new business

Read tomorrow about the House Price Crash and Mortgage Queues

Fed US Rates Cut Likely Bank Base Rate BBR

Reports of the likely rate cut by the Fed are welcome news to UK markets in London - however, some forecast UK base rates will fall to 4.5% by the end of 2008, well, we reckon that if the do, as well they might, mortgage rates will not automatically follow

House Price Fall Nationwide Report - Money Markets Pressure on Mortgage Funding

It appears the Nationwide reported near 1% fall in house prices, averaged accrod the UK may be perpetuated by a lack of funding in the markets

Average net mortgage lending is, or has been around £9 billion per month over the past year or so whilst retail over the counter deposits have only been growing at around £6 billion per month

Whilst this shortfall remains, mortgages will get even more difficult to obtain and will be more expensive and both items will obviously make selling a house more difficult, so pushing down prices

Some forecasts say a drop of 7% through to the end of 2008 though we suspect it might be more, even if the Bank of England did pump some money in to the system and/or reduce rates we don't see it being enough to alleviate the drop

Northern Roack Sir Richard Branson Luqman Arnold

It seems Sir Richard could lose out on Northern Rock providing him a rather large nest egg - it does make sense to allow Luqman Arnold, who really did sort out the Abbey, a chance to bid and run the bank as a going concern - there is profit there and if RAB and John Wood's SRM can, with other shareholders raise the money to appease the Bank of England and Darling Alistair's Treasury then surely it is better for all to carry on as established?

Yes of course some lending criteria needs to be tightened but Northern Rock never were an adverse lender, okay they might have income stretches, but they were always open and up front about them

TCF - FSA - Self Cert Mortgages

The FSA are reported to have censored a number of mortgage brokers and are no doubt investigating others over the mal-practice of inflating incomes so as to qualify for loans.

Some brokers have been order to cease trading whilst new systems are implemented and we suspect that some heavy fines will follow for others.

Whilst we do not condone this fraud, sometimes the self-employed or company owners can justify this, in thier own minds at least on a basis that they have the means to earn more, or infact that they don't declare all income!

Not declaring income defrausd the revenue and all tax payers and brokers that may be aware of this must understand that the law now dictates they should report this under the money launder rules - the broker could be jailed for failing to report, even.

PPI Payment Protection Insurance Mis-selling MPPI

It is reported that claims for repayment of Payment Protection Insurance are increasing, even toward the same levels seen in Bank Charge Reclaims

As mortgage brokers MyCbi knows all about the poor and bad practice of some of these sales so, if anyone wishes to learn how to phrase and present thier claim in order to be successful, do please e-mail us - info@ will be fine, MyCbi but remember it is .co.uk

Interest rate cut?

Baqnk of England official Deputy Govenor Rachel Lomax feared the current financial crisis could trigger a fall in property prices and she said that she would be willing to vote a reduction to combat the 'credit crunch'

Buy to Let Burst Bubble Britains Sub Prime

As we said yesterday, our surprise is A) how these things are kept underwraps for so long and or B) how these so called media tuned and or experts fail to see the obvious whan it occurs months and months, and even more months ago

Next March, regardless of bank rate, will be the time to buy some cheap 2 bed roomed apartments to let to Eastern European Workers (EEW) &/or DSS Claimants - there'll be even more of them available, repossessions and BMV's, lot's of 'em!

So, is BTL the UK Sub Prime fiasco? Yes of course it is, well it is part of it but not all of it, we have our own sub-prime issues and whilst they have already surfaced, the very tip of the iceberg is all that has shown itself, just you wait!

As per yesterday, go to www.housepricecrash.co.uk or viewings on UTube for how some Americans were 'conned' they say, well they would say that, once things go wrong, wouldn't they, but yes some might have been mis-lead, as too some people over hear.

Darling Alistair & The Northern Rot Auction

Poor Darling, our Alistair, poor Darling! Whatever he does, at Gordon's bidding, is bound to back fire on him - perhaps rightly so, he wanted the job, wanted the salary, wanted to be political so he'll have to take the consequences.

The economy is shot to pieces, Tony Blair knew that, as did Gordon Brown who perhaps saw this as his last chance to be a Prime Minister, lets face it, if he were a true leader of conviction he would have fought Tony for the position right at the begining and any excuse of 'best for the party' is, or would be if levied, a lame excuse we all see through.

Gordon thought he might get a second term but then, just before his Chancellorship reign blew up in his face, David Cameron announces opinion grabbing support measures - tough luck Gordon, but now we bet you glad he did somewhat upstage you, eh?

So, Northern Rock will end up 'auctioned' for want of a better term and no doubt we, the tax payer, will be the one to lose out, not Applegarth or Darling Gordon salaries, no they'll all still receive them and Gordon Darling won't care a hoot as they fade in to opposition, still on fat cat salaries.

World economists pessimism OECD Greenspan and Gieve

Sir John Gieve (a deputy govenenor of the Bank of England so no mug!) and former Federal Reserve Chief Alan Greenspand along with OECD reckon the current 'credit crunch' could well bite harder, and spread deeper and wider and maybe go on longer than appears to have been realised

Bad times around the corner despite Bank Base Rate Reduction

The signs are out for business failures as the economy slows down even though some commentators predict a reduction of Bank of England Base Rate in December - some say it could be as much as up to .75% - wow, big drop but we do not expect it to be passed on to mortgage rates, commercial or domestic.

Forecasters say growth could fall as low as .3 per cent by the last 2 quarters of 2008 - The bank itself expects a 'sharp slowdown'

Beware, back in 1991 post Thatcherite days gross domestic product actually fell to minus, yes minus, -1.4% and Company liquidations hit 24,500 in 1992, which was twice the amount of boomsville arizona year 1988, so be warned, beware, is the proverbial is about to his the fan

BTL Paragon Property Market Bubble Alliance & Leicester Bradford & Bingley

Buy to Let investors face 6% plus loan rates whilst only seeing 3.7% yields - well yes, but they did know that rates could go up, as well as down, didn't they? Or did they think rates remained level or went down and yields only ever increased?

Paragon, having done the decent thing and come out honest and open do however claim, "landlords would delay new purchases rather than rush to sell property" Mr Nigel Terrington head of Paragon is quoted as saying - well he would say that, wouldn't he?

More likely that BTL investors can't sell but do or would want to, just can't because so many bought through property clubs or investment 'courses' that said they would learn how to make a fortune!

Visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54X4wXQD9AQ&feature=related and you'll see just the sort of thing that happened in USA as is still even now happening here in UK - and still the poor lambs turn up for slaughter! Property scams.

Bradford and Bingley have sold some assets or debts to raise or protect or preserve cash and liquidity though Allaince & Leicester appear to 'carry on regardless' even though shares in both have reportedly fallen by 40% in the past year even though they typically raise less than 50% of thier funding from the markets

One analyst yesterday stated the obvious, "There is a massive bubble in the UK property market which looks as if it is about to pop" - Blimey, we and http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/ have been saying this for months, and months and probably more months than that!

Darling Alistair might soon be disappointed at Rocks crumble

Banks are rumoured to be 'saving up for Christmas' and so starving Alistairs markets since Investment Banks are having year end in November and lots of clearers and others at the end of December - Libor hit 6.45% yesterday

Swiss Re said is was safe and now announces £524 loss on sub-prime - come on boys, get real, spill the beans and let us all take the medicne

The house price crash of 89 went down only 13% from peak to trough but folks think it was much more - the real issue was the length of time of the recession, it went on and on through to mid 83 early 94 and maybe beyond - so, bankers, learn some lessons and implement them, tell it how it is and lets have on almight hit of pain and then recovery can begin.

Spendometer Budget & Personal Spending Consumer Credit Counselling Service Credit Action Moneybasics

Creditaction, it appears, has launched, or is involved with Moneybasics in the launch and 'publicity' of Spendometer, a new tool that alerts to mobile phone if you spend over budget. Quite what the relationship structure is we do not yet know

Call us sceptics by all means but budgeting ones money on pay day then entering separate allocated amounts to ones mobile and then, yes there is more, every time you spend a penny in put that to your mobile just to receive a Spend Alert.......will only be carried out by those people who already budget

Also we are sceptical of the purposes - attraction tool to other services springs to mind

Supported by, amongst others, GE Money raises suspicion though we do not wish to nor intend to slander or libel but....................... it is GE Money that runs the majority of Store Cards ...... you know, Dorothy Perkins, Debenhams and House of Fraser or is it Rackhams types of cards that so very many families and mum's depend on for teen clothes or school uniforms

Seems okay so far but................... even back in 1998/99/2000 as bank rates began to fall here and there from 7.5% GE Capital did not (certainly not noticeably) reduce the rates charged on these cards ....... and it seemed, though this is not yet a sound allegation, that rates were not reduced, or by not very much, even when bank rates fell from said 7.5% of Jan 98 to 3.5% of July 2003 or so it seemed at the time, and seems the same right now - maybe GE Capital will protest and provide the figures to argue against us

So why is this relevant?

What, a purported advice line, budget 'we care about you' service being supported by this 'lender' in particular rings alarm bells about motive if nothing else, why there is even a link to GE Money on the moneybasics.co.uk web site!

CCCS Consumer Credit Counselling Service - are they aware of or interested in the nature of any association?

Credit Action, does the GE Money association not bother them at all? Are all of these supporters related?

What about Advice UK or Gingerbread, does this either not matter to them or are they simply naive as to the methods of GE Money - it was after all GE Capital or similar faction that bought FNB the home improvement finance tool for double glazing and other firms and then they bought up I-Group the 'we lend to anyone' firm

Consumer Protection Financial Services Authority FSA - APS Groups of Companies Estate Agency and or Mortgages

We at MyCbi always read Tony Hetherington Mail on Sunday Consumer journalist of The Year and constantly we are surprised how the firms he reports on 'get away with it' at all, or for so long.

Is the FSA really so toothless as to allow such ducking and diving as is alleged to continue so long, at all even?

We genuine registered and regulated adviser's, especially Ce Map qualified Mortgage Advisors just wouldn't dream of doing the things Mr Hetherington reports - or are we being naive?
Ian Wilkie, Emma Wilkie are named as is Mark Wilkie who was FSA registered though a search says he is 'inactive' but under the disciplinary tabs there are no reported items - blimey!

Anyway, lets not slander or libel, it is, as far as we are concerned all speculation and allegation

Bank Charge Reclaims PPI Payment Protection Mis-selling

Bank charge reclaims are, as we reported on Friday, back on the agenda - now Finance Mail in Mail on Sunday reports Lloyd's TSB ignore directives from regulators by increasing some charges and are accused, along with others of 'stealth' and 'trickery' by the Office of Fair Trading

Jeff Prestridge reckons charges could rise by "Bank charges to soar 60%" - Wow that is like the 22p lager reporter claiming to be canned up on 3 cans, blimey, cheap lager is about as strong as 'Shandy Bass' - the thinks they make up for a story eh?

Watch out for Payment Protection Insurance claims - mis-sold? Most people have been because if it had been explained to you, as it always should have been, most people would not have bought it

Bank on St Pancras Eurostar to save the city but not housing equity despite Barclays and Northern Rot

St Pancras looks magnificent, and it is but at present it will only benefit the City.

Even Barclays will have bonus's to spend on taking the strain by train to Paris et al

But Eurostar St Pancras will not slow the housing market crash that Nationwide at last seem to have acknowledged

American sub-prime made Barclays Capital write off £1.3billion yet they still show a group profit - maybe they were charging too much in the first place?

Citigroup Merrill Lynch didn't help Northern rot but now Applegarth and others have had to go - does anyone know who might have bought it, well the profitable parts at least?

Recessession - best get used to reading it, spelling it or saying it because we are going to hear a lot about it - just that the Government (and Bank of England to a certain degree) have thier head in the sand thinking that if they do not use the word, the R word, then either they, or we, or both, won't have one! Gordon is a moron, Gordon is a moron, and Alistair is a moron and Darling is a moron!

Plonker Gordon Plonker Alistair Nasty Tony - go on, let them sue if they disagree, go on!

Northern rot Merril Lynch Citigroup BofA Blackstone

Seems Northern Rock debts may last in to 2010 since the 'advisory' forum of Merrill Lynch Blackstone and Citigroup reckon £5.9 billion pounds could still be outstanding even 3 years hence.

Mervyn King seems to be personally annoyed, if not shaken at the fire directed toward the BofE over and post the Northern Rot fiasco - quiet wrongly we think (ish), pray tells us please, Gordon Brown and or Alastair Darling - do they have accountancy and or economics degrees and then so pratcial experience?

Inflation Up House Prices Down Consumer Spending Down Mortgage and Personal Finance trouble ahead - Recession?

So, figures this afternoon and this evening just confirm what we at MyCbi have been saying for months - Now, will Mervyn King and the MPC dare put rates up again to control inflation?

Egg prices have increased by 25% in the last year - we presume this is a typical retail price whilst overall dairy products, milk, cheese and eggs collectively up by 11.3% on this time last year and bread and cereals up 4.6% and all of this is relevant to mortgages and personal finance, business and commercial too.

The recessession is here and will be far worse than necessary if Gordon Brown or indeed his selfish puppet dailly and dally, again - we say let Mervyn King and the Bank of England get on with it, keep politics out of the actual till and keep the FSA purely as a source of information from the markets and banks on an internal basis.

Consumer spending is down and will continue to fall, we think

Inflation at 2.1% isn't so bad it can't still be controlled (increase from 1.8% on the month) but any more 'severe' increases could be lethal - .3% does not sound a lot, but if that were each month then simple is it 3.6% that inflation risies within a year, to what, 5.7% - Gordon would be out if that happens!

Tony Blair knew this was coming, so did Gordon but was he so hungry for power that he took the job anyway, sod a party leadership vote and if we cannot waltz an election, forget that too - seems, it appears, that it is hang on to what they can for as long as they can.

House Price Slowdown - Experts

So now the experts say there are clear signs of the housing market slowing and prices falling in many parts - pah!

Will they call me/us experts please? And pay us the same or more than they get? We said last year the crash would arrive in 2007 and it started months ago - blithering idiots or con-men - either they do not know what is going on or are just trying to hide the crash for thier own ends

Check out the reports and graphs at Housepricecrash.co.uk and you'll see what we are banging on about

Please, readers, let us hear your views and comment on this property market - and the jobs issues and eceonomy general please

Darling struggles Mervyn King Govenor Bank of England spills the beans on Northern Rock

After the Chancellor and his boss, predecessor Gordon Brown prevaricate and think they know best Northern Rock Plc suffered one hell of a lot, savers and depositors feared the worse and despite attempts to re-assure them, failed to trust a Government that stood by on Pensionsfiasco, British Rail, Network Rail and Railtrack and, wasn't Alastair Darling involved in some, lots maybe, of that?

Equitable Life Gordon, remember that? BCCI & Barings Alastair, remember those? And you expected people to beleive you? Pah!

Mervyn King had told them what to do - we blogged weeks ago that LIBOR facility ought to have been replaced BofE fund, banks send surplus to BofE and those seeking funds apply to Mervyn and The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street direct, secretly, covertly and no one knows the difference - simple eh?

Banking collapse can happen and this mis management did nothing to help shun such a run on a bank

House Price Falls

Article in Daily Mail Wednesday 7 November 2007 Page 2 predicts 'half the country' to be hit by price falls over the next 18 months.

It is true that mortgage lenders really are tightening thier belts and criteria - within the mortgage broker industry we are seeing and or saying that any deal or application over 75% LTV is scrutinsed far more fully than ever was the case.

Experian predicts falls from 3.7% East Midlands to only .4% in the South East but we at MyCbi and indeed www.housepricecrash.co.uk feel it might well be substantially more even though the crash of 89 only reversed 13% from peak to trough, not a huge amount one might think but boy did it go on, and on, and on for ages!

Northern Rock

The fiasco drags on - yes?

Reports say savers have withdrawn £8 billion pounds, thats a 8 million millions in fact from the coffers of Northern Rock Plc and the Bank of England Chancellor Alastair Darling and Gordon Brown have guaranteed it some £20 billion so far and that equates to £750 for each of us - whether that includes children and or known present foreigners or just British adults we don't yet know, but £750 each from taxpayers!

Dosen't llok as Citibank will be coming to it's aid after all, does it?

Debt Fears Citigroup Merrill Lynch Dow Jones Fed

Shares tumbled virtually everywhere at some point on Thursday and or Friday as fear seemed to rush accross financial markets.

The world's largest bank Citigroup shares tumbled, don't know what they are at present or if they have rallied after some analysists predicted it may need to raise as much as $15 billion, that is $15,000,000,000,000 quite what for at present we are not yet certain but it might need to sell assets, cut dividends or issue more shares, or all three - quite a 'large' situation do we not think?

Credit fears and continuing debt have been sending severe signals all around the world, how this is all going to effect the UK we can still only speculate but we suspect fuel to repeat of the crash of 89 is one inevitable outcome.

Sterling reached $2.0870 and oil $96 per barrel and many US investors headed for government bonds, just how safe they prove to be we will see!

US base rate was cut to 4.5% but UK rates are likely to stay put at least until springtime, let's all watch this space.

One fund manager claimed there is still three times as much bad debt write off to come as has already been effected. Lets not forget monumental size write offs by merrill Lynch and Citibank so again, let's all watch see what happens stemming from the FED US Fereral Reserve

Sir Ian Blair Metroploitan Police

Just to stray off subject for a moment, putting aside my dislike for Sir Ian Blair even though i have never met him so cannot know him, it is my feeling and opinion about which I speak, do we not agree he never really was much of a leader, more a marrionette bungler?

Look at the blunders, as listed by Daily Mail on Friday 2 November page 2 August 2003, February 2005, April 2005, July 2005, August 2005, January 2006, March 2006, April 2006, May 2006, March 2007, August 2007 and October 2007 'bounced' out of claiming the bonus he so naively thought he deserved - what a real plonker!

Jean Charles de Menezes shot 7 times in the head by his officers and he claims to carry no responsibility? This man is as bad and self serving centred and the other Blairs, both Tony the Liar and Cherie The Selfish - let them sue me if they don't like it!

Why didn't Blair go after the City crooks, mortgage fraudsters and those who selfishly and or collectively contributed to the City cash crises could have helped, instead he just wraps himself in politically correct sheilds! Pah!

Sharp fall in UK mortgage lending

Sharp fall in UK mortgage lending There was a sharp slowdown in mortgage lending in the UK last month, says the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).
Gross lending dipped by 12% from August to September, to £30bn.
Although lending was still higher than in September last year, the drop from month to month was larger than is usually seen at this time of year.
The CML said it was another sign that the housing market was responding to the five increases in interest rates since the summer of 2006.
"We have been expecting a slowdown in monthly lending levels in line with interest rate rises," said the CML's director general Michael Coogan.
"In the coming months, we expect to see monthly lending levels dip below their 2006 levels for the first time this year as rate effects are exacerbated by the recent liquidity problems in the mortgage market," he added.
Slowdown
The CML said that mortgage lending usually dips by just 5% between August and September.
However, September was the third month in a row that mortgage lending has dropped.
The CML's figures are very much in line with those from other market commentators such as individual lenders and estate agents.
Their regular surveys have all shown a slowdown in prices, sales or new mortgage approvals over the past few months.
Northern Rock
The CML said its figures pre-dated any effect there might have been from the crisis at the Northern Rock.
However, in separate data released on Thursday, the UK's building societies revealed that they had received a big influx of savings last month, probably due to the run on the Northern Rock.
The Building Societies Association (BSA) said its members had seen a record paid £2.82bn into their accounts, nearly three times the amount deposited in September last year and a billion pounds more than the previously monthly record.
"It is likely that a significant proportion of the inflow is due to withdrawals from Northern Rock bank being re-deposited in building societies," said Adrian Coles of the BSA.
Story from BBC NEWS:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/business/7050277.stmPublished: 2007/10/18 09:54:21 GMT© BBC MMVII

Sharp rise in stamp duty burden

Sharp rise in stamp duty burden A quarter of the country's entire residential stamp-duty burden is shouldered by just 25 local authority areas, the Halifax bank has found.
The 2006/7 tax year figures showed all of the 10 authorities which generated more than £50m were in London or on the capital's edge.
The Halifax said more than one in seven councils saw at least a 50% rise in the duty paid by homebuyers in their area.
Sales above the £250,000 duty threshold had risen sharply, it added.
The authorities that generated the most stamp-duty of all were Kensington and Chelsea at £235 million, followed by Westminster, £193 million, and Wandsworth, £122 million.
'Steep increases'
The only areas outside the south-east which were in the stamp-duty top 25 were Edinburgh, Leeds, Bristol and Birmingham.
Martin Ellis, Halifax chief economist, said: "There were some very steep increases in residential stamp duty revenue at a local level in the last financial year.
"A sharp rise in the number of property sales above the 3% stamp duty threshold of £250,000 has been a key factor behind this dramatic increase."
The total stamp duty revenue from residential property sales in the UK rose by 40% in 2006/07 to a record £6.4bn, the Halifax said. During the past five years, annual residential stamp duty revenue has more than doubled.
Properties costing more than £250,000 pay 3% stamp duty, and homes above £500,000 pay 4%.
The Halifax estimates that 25% of properties in the UK - 5.4 million - are now valued above the £250,000 stamp duty threshold.
Story from BBC NEWS:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/business/7064984.stmPublished: 2007/10/27 00:23:48 GMT© BBC MMVII

House prices 'now slowing down'

House prices 'now slowing down' Further evidence has been published that house prices are slowing down in England and Wales.
The Land Registry said that the annual inflation rate for residential properties fell in September to 8.7%, down from 9.4% in August.
The figures back up other recent surveys, such as those from lenders, surveyors and the Department of Communities and Local Government.
The Land Registry said the fall in September was a "noticeable dip".
It now seems clear from all available evidence that the housing market is slowing down, say analysts, with prices cooling off, while both house sales and new mortgage approvals are dropping.
Between April and July, the average number of property sales was 102,367 per month, down from an average of 109,316 in the same period last year.
London
If it were not for the current strength of the market in London, house price inflation would be even lower, the figures suggest.
Prices in England and Wales rose by 0.4% in September, taking the cost of the average house to £183,896.
But prices in London - now averaging £354,272 - are still rising much faster than in the rest of the country.
Last month, they went up by a further 1.3%, which trimmed the annual inflation rate for the capital very slightly to 16.5%.
"The evidence of the divergent performance between regions persists," said the Registry.
"The September data shows that for the sixth consecutive month, the rate of monthly increase for London house prices remains clearly greater than that of England and Wales as a whole," it added.
With average prices rising, the number of properties being sold in the cheaper price bands in England and Wales has been shrinking.
In July, the last month for which data is available, the number of homes sold for between £100,001 and £150,000 - the most common price band - fell by 18%.
In London, it will soon be impossible to buy anything for less than £100,000.
In July, just 47 properties were sold for less than that sum.
Story from BBC NEWS:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/business/7063572.stmPublished: 2007/10/26 10:52:58 GMT© BBC MMVII