There were small signs of an economic recovery today as, for the first time in 16 months, UK house prices have risen – according to figures from the Nationwide Building Society.
The cost of a typical house increased by almost 1% in March – up to £150,946 following 16 consecutive months of falling prices.
It was also announced today that British banks may soon start lending again to households and businesses as the credit crunch lessens its grip.
The Bank of England claimed that overall, more banks expected to boost their availability of credit in the next three months, having closely studied their survey on banker intentions.
This news is a pleasant relief from the Doomsday reports of late, and breathes fresh confidence in the start of an economic recovery.
Households who were dismayed by recent raises in living costs – like petrol, water and council tax – have welcomed the news that their house has temporarily stopped losing money. Increasingly it has become more difficult to secure a mortgage, as many homeowners have fallen into negative equity (where the outstanding amount owed on a property is more than its current value).
This has meant that for many people they have been unable to take out a loan secured against their home, to enable them to get out of debt. As a result, debt problems have grown as they remain unresolved, and more people have found that they require some debt advice or information regarding available debt help programmes to relieve their finances.
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Hopefully the signs of a further recovery will be confirmed next month, with other similar indicators, and the credit crunch and global recession will be resigned to a thing of the past.
