House sales match 80's boom

The number of properties being sold in England, Wales and Northern Ireland has reached its highest level since the property boom of the late 1980s. Figures from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) show that 1,859,000 flats and houses were sold in 2006-07.

This was the largest number sold since 1988, the peak of the boom before property prices and sales crashed in the early 1990s. Both sales and prices in the 2006-07 financial year rose by 11%.

In 1988, the number of homes sold, in just England and Wales, stood at a record level of 2,148,000 before tumbling by more than half a million the following year.

That slump came as interest rates were raised sharply by the government, and house prices also fell, leading to negative equity for some mortgage-holders.

In recent months, there has been growing evidence that the market is starting to slow down, as a consquence of the four increases in interest rates since the summer of 2006.

Inquiries from new buyers at estate agents have been falling in the past few months, the number of new mortgages approved for house buying has also dipped and the value of new mortgage lending is beginning to slowdown.

Source: BBC