House price growth to collapse next year - papers Nov 16

Nationwide said that house price inflation would collapse from 9.7% at present to precisely 0% next year - below the expected inflation rate of around 2%, meaning that prices will fall in real terms. Prices would decline across much of England, but Scotland would have a relatively stable period of modest price rises, Nationwide said. Its annual forecast for 2008 shows prices declining by 2% in the North and the North West and by as much as 5% in Northern Ireland. BARCLAYS HAS WRITTEN OFF £1.7bn on sub-prime mortgages and buyout loans in the past four months, the bank disclosed yesterd...