Investment Property Databank IPD Residential Investment property achieved a creditable return of 11.5% in 2003, modestly ahead of UK commercial property. A slow start to the year was more than offset as investor sentiment improved with the ending of the war, strong consumer spending and a more bullish stock market injecting confidence into the housing market.

Independent: Levelling off in rates 'could spark fresh house price surge' House prices could enjoy a new year surge if the Bank of England stops raising interest rates, the body that represents the mortgage industry said yesterday.

BBC NEWS | Business | Bank rates are unchanged at 4.75% The Bank of England (BOE) has decided to keep interest rates on hold at 4.75% for September, as widely predicted.

Reuters: Bank of England set to hold rates The Bank of England appears almost certain to keep interest rates on hold at 4.75 percent tomorrow and economists say there probably won't be many more hikes to come in this cycle, if any at all.

Independent: Retail gloom puts rate rise on hold 'Abysmal' August weather gives high street worst month of the year - House prices levelling off, says Bovis

Guardian: Hot property She was the poor little rich girl with the stunted social antennae, but then she grew up. Harriet Lane meets her ex-Bedales schoolmate Kirstie Allsopp - TV presenter, private location scout and 21st-century dykon

Telegraph: When will it be safe to buy a house? To someone like myself, returning from a holiday abroad, the most striking economic development in the UK is the apparent turn in the housing market....

Yorkshire Post: Life is cheap... but will we pay for it tomorrow? Debt is the scourge of 21st century life. And if you believe what you read in the papers, we're all up to our necks in £1 trillion of it, with each of us carrying, on average a personal debt of almost £5,000, excluding our mortgages. Shock horror stories about how we're all doomed to a life of penury are ten a penny (excuse the pun), but how often do you read that life has never been as cheap?

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