| "I think we're in for a continued steady rise in defaults and problems on mortgages for the next couple of years, but I don't think they'll reach the level they did in the late 1980s." | |
| Ben Broadbent, Goldmans Economist | September 2007 |
| "Mr Brown has got lucky so far. The exceptionally benign economic environment of the past decade means that there is still no real popular understanding of just how significantly he has raised taxes, or how wastefully that money’s been spent." | |
| John Stepek, Money Week | October 2007 |
| "The credit crunch is a benign, even positive event for financial markets, even in the UK, where over 60 per cent of corporate earnings are derived from overseas. The consequence for the UK economy is much more severe, and the population is sleep-walking into a bust or, at best, a long drawn-out period of stagnation." | |
| Max King, Investec Asset Management | October 2007 |
| "It's frightening. We have properties which have been on the books for months and months, which have suffered price reduction after price reduction but are still not selling." | |
| Sarah Nixon, Hammond Harwood | October 2007 |
| "This time last year we had 80 properties to sell and now we have 240. There are too many houses and not enough buyers. We are having to reduce prices. A house that might have sold at £290,000 last year will be put on the market this year at £250,000 and still struggle to sell." | |
| Alan Emery, Ocean Estate Agents | October 2007 |
| "Even where deals are being done, we've had several buyers pull out at the last moment, because they have become afraid of higher repayments or that prices might fall and they are paying too much." | |
| Mike Evans, Ibbett Mosely | October 2007 |
| "In my view, a sub-prime-fuelled housing market crash in the UK is extremely unlikely -- in fact, just about as likely as a Martian invasion." | |
| Donna Werbner, News Editor of yourmortgage.co.uk | October 2007 |
| "Up until six weeks ago, there was no stopping it - almost all sales were in excess of the asking price. If you didn’t pay, you didn’t get it. Buyers would bid over the guide price even if the house had some blemishes, such as damp or road noise, confident that the market would keep rising. Now, people are less likely to take that view. Sentiment is different." | |
| Peter Rollings, Marsh & Parsons | October 2007 |
| "The UK economy is in a strong position. Sound market fundamentals, including high levels of employment and a shortage of properties available for sale, will continue to support house prices." | |
| Martin Ellis, chief economist at the Halifax | October 2007 |
| "There is currently little to support the alarmist views of the IMF relative to the UK housing sector because the major influence to house prices is shortage of new build entering the supply chain." | |
| David Stuart-Smith, Andrew Grant Estate Agents | October 2007 |
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