New figures from a leading mortgage lender have offered hope to first-time buyers struggling to get a foothold on the housing market.
In its quarterly bulletin, Bristol & West has announced that it feels interest rates may now have peaked, expecting them to stay at 5.25 per cent for the duration of this year and then predicting a drop of half a per cent by the end of 2008.
The bank also notes a slowdown in the housing market which should also suggest an easing of economic conditions in the coming months and years.
"The slowdown, in our view, represents a move from a housing market that was displaying signs of overheating to one whose growth rate is sustainable," says the report.
The report did, however, also warn that house building would have to continue at its current robust rate, with 250,000 new homes expected to be completed in 2007, if supply was to keep up with demand for the next few years.
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