UK housing wealth dives £400bn - papers 11 Aug

According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, the year-long global credit crisis has slashed housing wealth by £400bn, while the value of other assets has plummeted by £200bn due to share price falls. Plunging house prices, down 9% year-on-year, are forcing consumers to cut back on discretionary spending on goods and services. PwC predicts that consumer spending will fall by between £12bn and £16bn - up to around 1pc of the country's entire GDP - over the next year-and-a-half, with knock-on effects for both employment and economic growth. THE BANK OF England is expected to deliver a gloomy as...