Mortgage Crisis

There has been a lot in the news lately about the mortgage crisis here in the United States of America. There is hardly a day that goes by without something being said on the nightly news about the subprime lending mess or the downturn in the real estate market. However, the United States is not the only country being affected in this way. It is actually more of a global problem. Many countries are experiencing the same mortgage credit imbalances and housing market slumps. However, there is some encouraging news according to one Mortgage News Article at Money Magic. It declares that in the United Kingdom mortgage approvals actually increased in January. According to the British Bankers Association mortgage approvals rose from 42,343 to 44,288 from the previous month, but they are still thirty three percent lower than this time last year and half of the new lending in January was remortgaging. Allan Monks, economist at JP Morgan said: "With credit conditions likely to continue tightening, and the growing expectation that house prices will fall this year, we would still expect to see some further declines in house purchase activity looking forward." However, he added that the rising numbers may be signs that the UK may be close to the bottom of the current downturn. Let's hope that the encouraging news spreads throughout the global economy.