The Bank of England had more bad news yesterday, but spare a thought for poor old US nurses; house prices across the pond are now so expensive they can’t even get a foot on the property ladder.
According to the latest Bank of England report on mortgage lending, 226,000 mortgages were approved for all purposes in December, that’s 30 per cent down on the start of 2007.
Even more alarmingly, mortgages approved for house purchase fell from 81,000 in November to 73,000 in December. Apparently, mortgage demand is now below the low point of the 2005 downturn – well – actually the downturn of that period was not really that serious, so maybe we shouldn’t be panicking too much yet, maybe property investors should await much worse news than that before they make for the nearest tall building. (Did you know that, contrary to popular opinion, the number of suicides from people jumping from high buildings in 1929 was no different from normal?)
Then again, pity the Americans. According to the National Housing Conference (NHC), house prices are still unaffordable for many workers.
CNN Money ran the story today. The median price of a home in Chicago is $262,000, meaning that to buy their home, a buyer who places a 10 per cent deposit, and who then forks out 28 per cent of income on mortgage payments, would have to earn $85,589. Yet your average nurse in the windy city only earns $63,398.
Ummmm, nurses attempting to buy a home – could that happen in the UK? What was that we said about pigs taking to the wing yesterday?
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