The UK faces 'a major slowdown' in the housing market, Standard & Poor’s, the credit rating agency, said yesterday, putting Britain on a par with Spain as the housing market in Europe most likely to follow the US in a correction. Financial Times
Borrowing from the Conservatives’ 1992 election slogan, S&P says the UK property market is wrestling with a 'triple whammy' of stretched affordability, a squeeze on mortgage financing and the “spectre of unemployment”.
Although the ratings agency has not yet predicted falling prices, its expectation of flat prices with big downside risks strikes a chord with most new forecasts for the market.