Report On Mortgage Loan Market Delayed
You may have recently heard how the Treasury have commissioned Sir James Crosby to conduct a review and report into the mortgage and home loan markets, with particular reference to the recent funding problems and liquidity issues which are being faced by the majority of banks, building societies and other home loan providers in the UK.
The initial findings of the report were supposed to be published by the end of September this year, however this has now been delayed and the results are not now expected until mid to late October. This is still within the original time frame allowed for the report and it is likely that the delay is due to the problems suffered by the banking sector last week and earlier this week and the implications this has for the future of the mortgage and home loan markets.
The US Government’s proposed rescue package of $700 billion for the American home loan markets will obviously affect the situation in this country and the outcome is eagerly awaited, with observers hoping that the US Congress can agree on an appropriate course of action sooner rather than later, as further delays could create further problems for the mortgage and home loan markets, both in the US and here in the UK. The initial findings of the Crosby report, which was published in July, suggested that unless the Government intervened urgently, the home loan market was unlikely to fully recover in the UK until 2011.
In a letter to the Chancellor, which accompanied the interim report, Sir James Crosby said “ The final phase of our work, that of evaluating the options for action and their effectiveness, will be pursued with all urgency over the summer months, working closely with interested parties and other countries facing similar challenges. We are therefore progressing in accordance with the timetable you set for our work. Even so, I must stress that I may yet recommend that the Government should not intervene in the market, on the grounds that such intervention would create more problems than it would solve.”
