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The following news stories are those which are most important for understanding the house price crash and the impact on house prices going forward...
December 31
FT: House prices in England and Wales fell further in November, with declines particularly acute in the relatively affluent south-east, sending average values to levels not seen since February 2006, official data show
FT: The average pension scheme of FTSE 100 companies saw the value of its assets crash by 17 per cent in 2008, wiping a total of £65bn from retirement funds, according to a study from Deloitte
FT: Eurozone lending stagnates as banks get tough
Wall Street Journal: The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Finance Corporation said Tuesday that they will lend $200 million to Georgia's biggest bank in an effort to help the country through the international financial crisis
December 30
FT: Lenders reel from a chaotic year
Marketwatch: US home prices off record 18% in past year, Case-Shiller says
FT: The pound plummeted to its weakest level yet against the euro on Monday, reaching a low of almost £0.98, as investors responded to signs of gloom in the UK economy
Property Week: Crunch forces more than 30,000 estate agents out of their jobs
December 27-28-29
FT: UK house prices fall 8.7% in 2008
Property Week: Britain's banks face up to £70bn of losses on commercial property loans, enough to force some of them into a further round of taxpayer bail-outs
Property Week: Adams, the children’s wear chain, plans to appoint PwC as administrator as soon as today after it became the latest retailer to fall victim to the consumer downturn
Property Week: Scottish retailer USC, which is backed by retail and property entrepreneur Sir Tom Hunter, goes into administration
December 26
December 25
December 24
Times: Collapse of Whittard and Officer’s Club threatens hundreds more jobs
Property Week: Zavvi goes into administration
FT: Sterling falls as UK economy contracts
Reuters: GMAC gets Fed's OK to become bank holding company
Reuters: Regulators near deal for IndyMac
FT: Japan PM announces record budget
December 23
FT: Falling UK commercial property prices
Marketwatch: U.S. Nov. existing-home sales fall 8.6% - Home prices decline at fastest annual pace on record
Marketwatch: New-home sales drop to 407,000 in November, off 2.9% - Total U.S. home sales fall to lowest level since 1991
Reuters: American Express to get $3.39 billion of TARP funds
FT: China cuts rates further to 5.31%
FT: China bails out Taiwan
Times: Whittard to become UK's latest retail casualty
FT: Bond and loan volumes slump
December 20-21-22
Property Week: Residential rents in prime central London fall 10% in three months
FT: UK house sales forecast to hit record low
Times: The credit crunch will ensure that China becomes the world’s largest economy within a decade
Telegraph: Accountancy firms are believed to have at least 15 large so-called pre-pack administrations lined up for January as the economy continues to falter
December 19
Times: Fears increase over the economy as borrowing reaches new high
FT: Sterling nears parity with euro
FT: Dollar in spotlight amid currency volatility
Times: 75,000 could lose their homes in 2009, says Council of Mortgage Lenders
Mortgage Strategy: Halifax and Nationwide steer clear of house price forecasts
December 18
FT: What is quantitative easing?
FT: Commercial property fears deepen
FT: Nationwide in 95% mortgage market
Wall Street Journal: China's House Prices Curb Growth
December 17
Reuters: Gold retains allure as cenbanks battle deflation
Reuters: OPEC oil ministers agreed their deepest output cut ever on Wednesday, cutting 2.2 million barrels per day from oil markets in a race to balance supply with rapidly crumbling demand for fuel
FT: Fed dips into toolbox to fix long-term rates
December 16
Marketwatch: U.S. Nov. housing starts plunge 18.9% to record low
Marketwatch: FOMC cuts rate 0.75 percentage point to 0.25%, use all tools
Reuters: Fed cuts rates to record low
FT: HBOS trading statement raises alarm
December 13-14-15
Times: City workers are rushing to offload their Canary Wharf apartments amid job losses in the financial sector
Telegraph: Bond traders in Latin America are braced for stormy week after Ecuador became the first country – apart from the Seychelles – to default on its sovereign debt since the global crisis began
FT: HSBC joins victims of Madoff’s alleged fraud
FT: Nomura reveals $303m exposure to Madoff
Telegraph: British government tipped to launch rescue package for car industry
Times: Ireland launches €10bn bailout for its banks
Property Week: King Sturge’s Spanish arm to file for administration
Property Week: Wichford, the listed company that buys government-occupied property, this morning revealed a 57% plunge in its net asset value in the year to 30 September
Marketwatch: As card issuers slash balance-transfer offers, consumers' work gets harder
December 12
Reuters: Madoff's alleged $50 billion fraud hits other investors
Marketwatch: Sanderson State Bank of Sanderson, Texas fails: 25th of year
Times: Mortgage scheme rules likely to limit householders' help
Times: Connells to offload its stake in Rightmove
FT: Alistair Darling extended the potential length of a state-backed mortgage holiday for struggling homeowners on Wednesday, but he insisted that the risks of default would be shared with lenders
FT: Detroit reels as $14bn rescue fails
FT: Fed mulls exceptional monetary measures
December 11
FT: The Bank of Korea on Thursday slashed its benchmark interest rate by 1 percentage point to the lowest ever amid growing concerns that the economy may slip into its first recession in a decade next year
FT: House approves $14bn Detroit rescue bill
FT: GMAC yesterday said it could drop its attempt to become a bank holding company after failing to raise the capital needed, casting doubt on its ability to survive the financial crisis
December 10
Reuters: California's budget crisis is growing worse as its shortfall for its current fiscal year has increased to an estimated $14.8 billion
Times: Cost of personal loans soars. Deals under 8 per cent have disappeared despite the cut in the base rate
Times: Estate agents offer ‘bargains’ in Christmas sale
Independent: Britain worse credit risk than McDonald's
FT: Payment woes demolish ‘poshest builder’
FT: Canadian dollar tumbles after rate cut
FT: Interest rate on US T-bills turns negative
FT: House sales continue fall to record low
FT: Hips extension draws fire from estate agents
December 9
Times: Number of house sales slumped to a new 30-year low between September and November. Number of house hunters increases.
FT: Pensions lifeboat risks being swamped
Reuters: Pending home sales slip
December 6-7-8
Times: Barack Obama reveals stimulus package that could exceed $1 trillion
Reuters: Homeowners redefaulting after getting aid
December 5
Marketwatch: British Nov. house prices see 14.9% annual fall: Halifax
Times: Homeowners lose out as banks refuse to pass on the latest cut
Times: New car sales in November plunge 36.8%
Times: Creditworthy borrowers are being refused deals when they remortgage because cautious surveyors are giving their homes lower-than-expected valuations
Reuters: U.S. job losses worst since 1974 as downturn deepens
Marketwatch: Foreclosures, delinquencies hit record high
Times: Central banks cut interest rates; Europe cut 75 basis points to 2.5 per cent, Sweden cut 175bp to 2 per cent and New Zealand cut 150bp to 5 per cent
December 4
Marketwatch: Bank of England cuts rates to 2%, lowest level since 1939. ECB follows.
Times: Homeowners who lose their jobs or suffer a severe drop in earnings are to be allowed to defer their mortgage interest payments for up to two years, Gordon Brown announced yesterday
FT: Mortgage holiday plan leaves confusion
FT: New Zealand cuts interest rates to 5%
Times: Sterling tumbles to 13-year low as economy’s woes raise prospect of historic rate cut
FT: Brown throws homeowners mortgage lifeline
December 3
December 2
Reuters: Big three US automakers ask for a combined $34 billion in loans and credit lines as sales slump
Property Week: Shares in CB Richard Ellis and Jones Lang LaSalle plunged on Wall Street yesterday amid a raft of poor economic news
FT: Sterling plummets against dollar
December 1
FT: House prices down 8.1%
Times: Reprieve for families as RBS delays repossessions
