House sales - the lowest for thirty years

Where did that buoyant UK housing market go? Where are all those sharp suited estate agents with their cheap sales pitches? Don't you just miss the UK housing bubble?

Now it is all doom and gloom.

The housing market slowed to a virtual halt at the end of last year as the number of properties sold reached a record low, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said. It blamed the lack of mortgage finance for the lowest transaction levels in 30 years.

Surveyors reported that potential buyers, including first-timers, had been unable to take advantage of falling house prices because lenders would not grant home loans at affordable interest rates to any but the most cash-rich investors.

(from the Times)