Barclays chief says house prices may fall 30%
Monday, December 15, 2008
One of Britain’s most powerful bankers gave a grim economic forecast last night that the country was only midway through the housing slump and that unemployment was set to soar.
John Varley, group chief executive of Barclays, painted a bleak outlook, saying that property prices could fall by a total of 30 per cent from their peak to the end of 2009 while unemployment could rise to 7.5 per cent of the working population. The previous lending policies’ of banks, in which 100 per cent mortgages and beyond were approved, were “madness”, he said, admitting that banks were partly to blame for the current recession.
It was time they showed “humility”, and said “sorry” to customers for their role in the sharp economic downturn and they needed “to take their share of responsibility”.
Mr Varley said, in an interview to be broadcast on Sky News tonight that there was still more pain coming for homeowners: “Our view was that from the top to the bottom, you would see a fall of something like 25 to 30 per cent. I suspect we’re about halfway through that at the moment. I mean that slow-down, the negative house price inflation started in 2007, it’s accelerated in 2008.
Read the full article at Times Online
John Varley, group chief executive of Barclays, painted a bleak outlook, saying that property prices could fall by a total of 30 per cent from their peak to the end of 2009 while unemployment could rise to 7.5 per cent of the working population. The previous lending policies’ of banks, in which 100 per cent mortgages and beyond were approved, were “madness”, he said, admitting that banks were partly to blame for the current recession.
It was time they showed “humility”, and said “sorry” to customers for their role in the sharp economic downturn and they needed “to take their share of responsibility”.
Mr Varley said, in an interview to be broadcast on Sky News tonight that there was still more pain coming for homeowners: “Our view was that from the top to the bottom, you would see a fall of something like 25 to 30 per cent. I suspect we’re about halfway through that at the moment. I mean that slow-down, the negative house price inflation started in 2007, it’s accelerated in 2008.
Read the full article at Times Online
Labels: Barclays, falling house prices, House market
