Lenders drop house price forecasts

There is some good news – two of the UK’s biggest mortgage lenders, the Halifax and Nationwide have decided not to make any house price forecasts next year. The Halifax said it was ‘not appropriate’ due to its impending takeover by Lloyds TSB, while the Nationwide said it was simply too difficult at the moment as ‘things are changing so rapidly in the market, which makes it very difficult to forecast’. Some industry analysts have said that predications of further large falls may become a self-fulfilling prophecy. The two financial institutions had published the most widely followed and long-standing house price surveys each month.