Northern Rock has proved the law of unintended consequences. Having split this year into a “good bank” and “bad bank”, it is the bad half that is making profits while the good half has reported a loss. Maybe the government will have to sell the “bad bank” and be stuck with the good.
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It was only last spring we were being told house prices were down 18 per cent on the year: now the rate of inflation is about to become plus 10 per cent. A hidden housing boom is underway.
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Home Information Packs – Hips – were introduced as the housing market turned down, but it would be wrong to blame them for the house price slump. And it would be equally wrong for the Conservative Party to scrap them just because they were a Labour idea.
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Here is the good news. There is some good news. It is a rash politician who mentions green shoots until they have become sturdy plants, but there are signs of economic improvement.
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It was the housing market that led us into this financial mess. Is it ready to lead us out?
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Instead of using the latest cuts in interest rate to reduce mortgage-borrowers’ monthly costs, why not use the saving to reduce their loans? It wouldn’t directly stimulate the economy but it would boost the banks and make people richer.
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Before Royal Bank of Scotland gives all its customers a six-month mortgage holiday it should remember that 42 per cent of its shares are still in private hands.
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