Two of the UK’s biggest mortgage lenders, the Halifax and Nationwide, have said they are not going to produce house price forecasts for 2009. Halifax says that the forecast would be inappropriate as Halifax’s owners the HBoS will not exist next year due to the Lloyds TSB takeover.
The Nationwide are more open about the reason for stopping their monthly forecast. A spokesman told the BBC: “Things are changing so rapidly in the market that it makes it difficult to call.” They went on to say that once the housing market has settled down next year, they may be in a position to review this decision.
The Halifax monthly house price forecast has been published since 1983 and the Nationwide started in 1991. Some will see this as worrying news, but most realise that these forecasts do little to improve confidence in the market.
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