From the archive: House-price boom may be stalling - 1 May, 2007
The British Bankers’ Association (BBA) said just over 198,000 loans were agreed during March – 19,000 lower than the same period in 2006, a sign that some of the heat may be coming out of the market. The average size of a loan approved for house purchase was recorded at £150,800, 12 per cent higher than a year earlier, but almost unchanged on February. Economists agreed the downturn could be an early sign of an end to rampant house-price growth, currently at an average of £41 per day, but said a property-market crash remained very unlikely.
Martin Ellis, group economist at HBOS, said: “This could be a sign we will see a cooling off in house-price growth.”