BBC NEWS | UK | Scotland | Homes market 'favouring buyers' House market trends have shifted away from a sellers' market and now favour buyers, new figures suggest.

Property finance news - House buyers take their time The gentle "easing-off" of property prices is beginning to give house buyers new confidence to take their time choosing and strike hard bargains when they act, a new report reveals.

Scotsman.com News - Scotland - Panic selling fears as property prices cool "Sellers simply need to be more realistic about the prices they might achieve in the current market. It is less likely that the huge profits of the last few years are going to be made - not impossible - just less likely" - Wilson Hunter, senior partner Hunters PSM estate agents

Guardian: AA axes 900 repair centre jobs The AA today said it was to close its 122 UK car repair centres with the loss of 900 jobs.

Times Online - How the other half likes to bet YOU never meet a poor bookmaker, which is why a decision last week by the spread-betting firm IG Index to close its book on the property market could be met with gloom.

TheMoveChannel: House bubble book all fizz and no head A new book by city guru John Calverley warns that the UK housing market is currently in the "mother of all bubbles" and prices could slump by 30% before they return to their long-term average. But are the predictions by the Amex chief economist all froth and a bit too late?

Property Prices A Special Report Last week's prediction by Capital Economics of a 20 per cent fall in house prices generated its fair share of shock horror headlines in the national newspapers. The truth, though, to be though that at the moment no one has a completely clear picture of which way house prices are heading.

icbirmingham.co.uk: Experts predict rates are at peak Interest rates were kept on hold yesterday amid signs that five rises over the last year had finally put the brakes on house prices and consumer spending.

Guardian Unlimited Money | Special_reports | 'Mother of all bubbles' warning on house prices The housing market is currently in the "mother of all bubbles" and prices could slump by 30% before they return to their long-term average, a leading economist has warned.

The Motley Fool: House Prices to fall 47%
'Prepare For A Property Crash', 'House Prices To Plunge' and 'House-Price Meltdown'. The papers have been full of scary property headlines of late.

BBC NEWS | Business | US oil climbs to $53 price peak US crude oil prices have reached a fresh record high amid surging demand, worries over possible global supply shortages and a strike in Nigeria.

Telegraph | Money | 'Revival' in house prices puts MPC on the spot House prices rose again last month but Britain's factories are in a "dismal" state, posing difficult questions for the Bank of England as it decides on interest rates today.

Mortgage & Homes: Terminal decline One of the few remaining reasons for homebuyers to hang on to their duff mortgage endowments is fast disappearing. This is the terminal bonus, which used to give a massive boost to the maturity payout.

This is Money: The great house price muddle Homebuyers could be forgiven for being confused today as the country's biggest lender reported house prices rising last month, a second lender said confidence in the property market had fallen for the fourth successive month, and a leading City investment bank predicted stagnation in the housing market until 2010.

BBC NEWS | Business | House prices show renewed vigour UK house prices rose by 1.4% in September from August, says Halifax, the UK's biggest mortgage lender.

BBC NEWS | Business | Housing affordability gap yawns Potential home buyers face the widest affordability gaps in South West England and London, according to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF).

Credit Action: Debt statistics Britain's personal debt is increasing by £1 million every four minutes.

ThisisLondon: 'House prices to plunge' House prices will fall by 30 to 40 per cent during the next four years, one of the City's most successful fund managers has warned.

BBC NEWS | Northern Ireland | Extortion 'hits house prices' Every new house in a County Armagh town costs an extra £600 because of paramilitary protection rackets, an SDLP assembly member has claimed.

Telegraph | Property | What on earth is going on? House prices in the UK are heading for a crash, warn the world's money men. Soft landing, please, say Britain's estate agents.

The Guardian | Crash course not on the agenda Now we seem to have reached that point and everyone is holding their breath to see whether there will be a soft landing, where prices drift lower over a number of years, or a hard one, when they plunge.

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