Times: Landlords are the real winners As housebuyers wait to see which way the market turns, landlords are proving to be the big winners

This Is South Wales - Property Boom Over as Homes Slump Deepens A Big slump in home sales has signalled another nail in the coffin for the South West Wales property boom.

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | House prices going south Fresh evidence that the property market has stalled is published today, revealing that house values in the south have plummeted as much as 15%.

Telegraph | Money | FSA rules force Abbey to suspend some lending Abbey National will not make further advances to existing mortgage holders, and has withdrawn some mortgage products until further notice.

Hometrack: House prices drop in all london boroughs (PDF) London bears the brunt of this month's house price falls. The October survey of the London housing market reveals an average house price fall of -1.1% following last month's drop of -0.7%.

Reuters: Sharp rise in million-pound house sales The number of British properties sold for more than 1 million pounds has surged in the first six months of 2004 after a fall in 2003, mortgage lender Halifax says.

BBC NEWS: Test your financial literacy Large numbers of Britons find financial products and jargon difficult to understand, a survey from the Institute of Financial Services (IFS) has said.

The Motley Fool UK: Reliving The Wall Street Crash This weekend marks the 75th anniversary of the 1929 Wall Street Crash. If you're not familiar with what is probably the worst disaster in financial markets, these ten points will bring you up to speed.

BBC NEWS | Business | UK economy slows in third quarter The UK's economic growth slowed in the third quarter as manufacturing output declined, preliminary data has shown.

Headline news from Sky News: CONSUMERS OWE UTILITY FIRMS £1BN People are paying their bills for satellite television and mobile phones before those for gas, electricity and water.

Find a Property: Move Or Improve?According to their research, almost half of all households - some eight million - are reluctant to move in the current market and are planning to invest in their home instead. David Bitner, head of product operations at Bradford & Bingley, blames high house prices and punitive taxes for the situation: "There are two key factors creating a stay put attitude: high house prices and costly stamp duty levels.

ThisisLondon:Tax warning on £4.8bn black hole
GORDON Brown could be forced to put up taxes to fill a growing black hole in his finances after Government borrowing soared last month.

Daily Mail: THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME MERVYN King, governor of the Bank of England, believes the British economy is at a turning point. That much is clear from the minutes of the Bank's interest rate-setting committee, published yesterday.

Times Online: Consumers to pay even more, with gas prices set to rise
HOUSEHOLDS and businesses face a sharp rise in gas prices next year and the higher cost of the fuel is unlikely to abate soon, Britain’s North Sea oil producers said yesterday.

Citywire: The Housing Boom is Over: "Building society gross advances amounted to just over �4 billion in September, compared with �4.3 billion a year before. Approvals, loans agreed but not yet made, fell dramatically from �5.1 billion in September last year to �2.8 billion this September.

South Manchester Reporter - Landlord’s debt leads to eviction of 35 students A GROUP of 35 students are being evicted from their Fallowfield homes because their landlord did not keep up with the mortgage re–payments.

BBC NEWS | Business | 'Significant' rise in debt woes The number of Britons having debt problems has "risen significantly", Citizens Advice has said.

Times Online - Retail sales surge revives rate fears Strong performances by mobile phone and carpet stores have prompted a surprise rise in retail sales figures and revived fears that interest rates may yet be raised again this year.

ic Wales: First fall in loans since 2000 shows bubble has burst PREDICTIONS that the housing bubble has finally burst were confirmed yesterday by figures revealing the first year-on-year drop in mortgage lending for four years.

Bloomberg.com: U.K.Sept. Retail Sales Surge on Bigger Discounts U.K. retail sales unexpectedly rose in September as discounting in stores spurred purchases of mobile telephones, carpets and sports equipment.

This Is Money: Falling house sales hits builders UNHAPPY housebuilders suffered from subsidence after one of the sector's biggest companies confirmed that the Bank of England's interest rate medicine is working.

Mirror.co.uk - IT'S TOO DEAR TO MOVE
NEARLY half of all homeowners plan to improve their existing places because they can no longer afford to move.

Telegraph | News | Estate agents shed staff as lending falls Estate agents have started to cut staff, it emerged yesterday, as mortgage figures deepened the pessimism over the housing market.

Independent: Taylor Woodrow gives house sales warning Taylor Woodrow, the housebuilder, cautioned yesterday that sales will fall short of its previous estimate, causing the steepest decline in its shares in almost two years and dragging down the entire sector.

This is Money: Mortgage muddle MORE than one million borrowers could be putting their homes in jeopardy by not having any plans for repaying their mortgages. And a further 1.5 million who have put some money aside may still find their savings are woefully inadequate.

Scotsman.com: More Evidence of Housing Market Turnaround Weak lending figures and a sales downgrade from a leading building company provided further evidence of a turnaround in the property market today.

Reuters: Bank of England voted 9-0 for steady rates All nine members of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee voted to keep interest rates unchanged at 4.75 percent this month, and there seemed to be no discussion of raising borrowing costs.

Bloomberg.com: U.K. Mortgage Lending Has 1st Annual Drop in 4 Years U.K. mortgage lending fell in September from a year earlier, the first annual decline in almost four years, the Council of Mortgage Lenders said, as higher borrowing costs crimped demand.

Sky News: Housing crisis claim Soaring property prices is the top housing problem facing Britain today, says the charity Shelter.

Reuters:Shares look attractive as housing market wanes The property market, seen for years as a one-way ticket to riches for the canny private investor, is cooling, which could mean some bolder individuals will look for returns in the share market.

Reuters: Have Interest Rates Peaked? The more interesting question when minutes of the October 6 and 7 meeting are published on Wednesday is whether or not they signal that borrowing costs have now peaked at 4.75 percent.

Telegraph: New Year shock for 2m homeowners Up to 2m homebuyers face a hefty increase in their mortgage payments in the New Year.

Guardian Unlimited Property market faces up to 12 months of stagnation The National Association of Estate Agents said house prices had fallen for the fourth month in a row, adding that the market "is clearly now showing signs of the correction we have been predicting all year".

Times Online: House prices fall fastest since 1995 HOUSE prices have fallen at their fastest rate for nine years as the five interest rate rises over the past year have begun to bite, according to a leading survey.

Guardian Unlimited: Just a bit of inflation could burst this property bubble In the longer term, we risk an economic shock of some sort, perhaps a new bout of consumer price inflation requiring the Bank of England to raise rates, or a US downturn. Then the housing bubble could be an accident waiting to happen.

ThisisLondon: House price fall for fourth month ESTATE agents have warned that house prices have fallen for a fourth consecutive month. The National Association of Estate Agents said values fell 1.6% in September.

BBC NEWS | Business | Brown 'could break golden rule' Chancellor Gordon Brown is in danger of breaking his economic "golden rule" because forecasts for tax revenues are too optimistic, a report has said.

RightMove: Slowdown in housing market The annual rate of house price increase in asking prices dropped sharply, from 16.4 to 13.4 per cent.

Independent: Housing market 'suffers worst slowdown for a year' Rightmove said the housing market suffered its sharpest slowdown for a year and urged the Bank of England not to raise rates when its Monetary Policy Committee meets next, on 4 November.

Sunday Herald - Why two million contented homeowners are about to be knocked off their perches Many borrowers have been unscathed by interest-rate rises so far, says Teresa Hunter, which is why they are in for a nasty shock.

Telegraph | Money | Hedge your bets on house price moves: "A US website says it can protect homeowners from falling property values. And soon, as Liam Halligan and Philip Carter report, Britons may also be able to banish the fear of negative equity "

The Guardian | What a difference 40 years makes The average price of a British home has risen by almost 5,000% over the past 40 years, illustrating just how good a long-term investment property has been for many, according to figures published today.

Guardian Unlimited Money: Even estate agents say boom is over The latest house price boom is over, a report by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors will show this week.