We might complain about the housing market in the UK, but conditions in the US are considerably worse.
For the eighth consecutive month, house prices have fallen across the Atlantic, according to the latest Case-Schiller index. The US 20-city composite index is now at nearly the same level as it was in April 2009. Average house prices in the 20 surveyed cities recorded a year-on-year decrease of 3.3% last month.
In some areas, such as Detroit and Las Vegas, property values are lower now than they were in 2000. On the other hand, house prices in Los Angeles and New York have risen by more than 50% over the same time span.
The final quarter of last year saw a slight decrease in mortgage delinquencies in the States but the level is still near to historic highs.
In the UK, the housing indices show house prices started recovering from the autumn of 2009. Although house prices have increased strongly in London, regional differences have been a lot less pronounced in this country than in the United States.
Foreclosures in the States have grown rapidly in the past few years. From 100,000 in 2005 to around 1m last year. In the UK, there were 47,900 repossessions in 2009 and this dropped to 33,600 last year.
UK contractor mortgage holders have also benefited from lower interest rates. Around 70% of borrowers in the UK have a variable rate mortgage, whereas in the US, a lot of people have longer-term fixed rate deals.
Admittedly the UK housing market still has a long way to go, but things could be a lot worse.
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