Published on 19th November 2013
A crash in house prices is one of the fastest-growing risks for Britain’s lenders, according to a survey by the Bank of England. Banks, hedge funds and insurers told the central bank that the housing market was becoming a “bubble” that posed dangerous threats to financial stability. They also warned, in the Bank’s half-yearly Systemic Risk Survey of finance professionals, that a “snapback” in interest rates from the historic low of 0.5% to more normal levels would hit borrowers and send shares, property and debt markets reeling, The Times reports.