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	<title>House Price Spy Blog</title>
	<link>http://blog.housepricespy.com</link>
	<description>House Price and Property News and Information.</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Fri, 04 Jul 2008 09:15:47 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<language>en</language>
	
	<item>
		<title>Sell To Rent</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
With UK propety prices falling between 2.5% and 3.3% during the last year (and 1% during June 2008) the trend for &#8217;sell to rent&#8217; properties looks to be on the increase.  
 &#8216;Sell to rent&#8217; involves selling your property, rent another property while prices fall, and finally buy another property while prices are at [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.housepricespy.com/sell-to-rent.html</link>
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		<title>Scottish House Prices</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
Scotland, which had previously resisted the UK downturn, is set for its first average fall in property prices announced by lenders Nationwide and Halifax from their mortgages figures.
 For an example, there are 50% more properties for sale in Edinburgh which has driven prices down by 10%. Many properties are now fixed price, while &#8216;offers [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.housepricespy.com/scottish-house-prices.html</link>
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		<title>Property bounce back</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
The recent slump in house prices has caused a reduction in new home being built to a record low of 110,000 across the country planned for 2008. In the medium term this will cause more demand on existing housing leading to a bounce back in property prices.  
 Buyers with a imperative to move, [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.housepricespy.com/property-bounce-back.html</link>
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		<title>Stamp Duty shortfall</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
One point that I think needs to be made regarding the current financial situation, is that Chancellor Alistair Darling based his budget 2008 figures on certain revenue from Stamp Duty which will now be down by 15% at least. This means he will have to fund this shortfall from somewhere else. The Northern Rock debacle [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.housepricespy.com/stamp-duty-shortfall.html</link>
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		<title>London property prices</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
As with all property slumps there will be some areas worse hit than others, inflated prices in the capital seeing modest flats changing hands for millions, will hit London property prices hardest. The HBOS predicted that prices in London will fall by a massive 9%, the lender is planning a rights issue in the months [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.housepricespy.com/london-property-prices.html</link>
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		<title>House price to reach rock bottom in 2009</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
The SBE (Society of Business Economists) has predicted that UK property prices will fall by up to 10% during 2008 and reach rock bottom in 2009 losing up to 20% of their value. They did however predict that prices would then get back to peak values seen in 2007 and start rising from that point [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.housepricespy.com/house-price-to-reach-rock-bottom-in-2009.html</link>
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		<title>Reduce your energy bills</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
Energy bills are rising higher than ever and it&#8217;s never too late to switch you utilities provider and save hundreds of pounds each year! The press is full of scare stories about families choosing between heating and eating, but most of us will have noticed out bills rising in the last year with the remaining [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.housepricespy.com/reduce-your-energy-bills.html</link>
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		<title>Mortgage rate held for June 2008</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
The Bank Of England has held the mortgage lending rate for June 2008 at 5%, holding for a second successive month. The BOE has slowely decreased the rate from a peak of 5.75% in August 2007. 
 Whether this will increase consumer confidence enough to breath life into the UK property market will remain to [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.housepricespy.com/mortgage-rate-held-for-june-2008.html</link>
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		<title>Millions set to lose their home?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
As the &#8216;credit crunch&#8217; media hype goes into overdrive the papers were reporting that almost 2 million people in the UK were stuggling to pay their mortgages. In the early 90&#8217;s a record breaking number (hundred of thousands!) of home owners lost their homes due to the devaluation of the pound and rising unemployment. 
 [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.housepricespy.com/millions-set-to-lose-their-home.html</link>
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		<title>House Price Spy Members Benefits</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
Members of House Price Spy have exclusive benefits and features they can access that casual users wont get access to, so it pays to join up for free and get the ability to watch streets and get notification of all properties sold on that street, email alerts, newsletters with great offers and info on the [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.housepricespy.com/house-price-spy-members-benefits.html</link>
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		<title>New look revealed for House Price Spy</title>
		<description><![CDATA[


As mentioned in our last blog post House Price Spy has had a complete facelift and revamp. The main thing you should know while the site is now easier to use and search through you still get free house prices for all non-commercial properties in England, Wales and Scotland! The data is provided from government [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.housepricespy.com/new-look-revealed-for-house-price-spy.html</link>
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		<title>Noise Maps</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
Have you ever wondered where the the noisiest and quietest areas in the UK are? The Department For Environment Food and Rural Affairs have a new site where you can see what an area is like before you buy there. We have the Freedom Of Information Act to thank for letting us into these secrets [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.housepricespy.com/noise-maps.html</link>
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		<title>House Price Spy New Design</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
We have been busy re-designing House Price Spy site, a new face lift and new functions and member only stuff that will improve the way the site works. We are all excited with the new design and the hopefully we will see plenty of positive feedback in the months to come!  
 With the [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.housepricespy.com/house-price-spy-new-design.html</link>
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		<title>Childrens Rooms</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
Childrens Rooms have great furniture and novelties so they can personalise their personal space a feel safe and help create individuality. Bedding, clocks, blankets, beds, rugs, wallpaper etc from kids favourite characters such as premiership football teams, Fireman Sam, Scooby Doo, The Simpsons, Power Rangers, Hannah Montana and Dora The Explorer amongst others!
 Get great [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.housepricespy.com/childrens-rooms-2.html</link>
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	<item>
		<title>Mortgage rate unchanged for May 2008</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
The bank of England has left the mortgage rate unchanged for May 2008 at 5% as expected in many quarters. This is the second hold in 3 months with the trend reduction - hold -reduction - hold. 
 Many people expect a drop next month to combat a slow in growth in the UK economy, [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.housepricespy.com/mortgage-rate-unchanged-for-may-2008.html</link>
			</item>
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		<title>Home Office Tips</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
More and more people are adding a home office space to their home, whether you work from home or just want a general work space for homework and paper work you need to bear in mind a few things before you spend time and money. A few golden tips are:
 Think about who will use [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.housepricespy.com/home-office-tips.html</link>
			</item>
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		<title>Credit Crunch</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
With the next Bank Of England interest rate announcement early next week the pressure will be rising for drop in rates to stave off a potential recession in the UK. During the last 5 years house prices have risen by over 50% which is almost 7x average salery! Mortgage approvals have dropped to their lowest [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.housepricespy.com/credit-crunch.html</link>
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		<title>Mortgage Repayment Holidays</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
Remember when every mortgage advert mentioned Mortgage Repayment Holidays? While you wont get them as add-ons to your new mortgage many people are checking the small print on their loan and taking the option to have a year or even a few months out of payments at crucial times. 
 Mortgage lenders probably wish they [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.housepricespy.com/mortgage-repayment-holidays.html</link>
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		<title>Shared Equity Scheme</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
The Scottish Executive are handing all first time buyers a helping hand up onto the property ladder by lending between 40% and 20% of the property value through a registered Social Landlord. 
 This will give much needed assistance to first time buyers who are short of a deposit or struggling to get a larger [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.housepricespy.com/shared-equity-scheme.html</link>
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	<item>
		<title>Repossession</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
How many repossessions are the credit crunch going to cause?  Of course we dont really believe all the hype the media has been trying to propagate, but with a drop in house prices comes negative equity which is where repossession comes in. While the recent developments in finance, and mortgages in particular, have tried [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.housepricespy.com/repossesion.html</link>
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	<item>
		<title>Biggest price drop since 1992</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
The Halifax has revealed that the UK property market has suffered the Biggest price drop since 1992. The average price drop will be around 5%, The average house price in the UK is £191,000 rising from around £60,000 in 1992. 
 While house prices are down unemployment is down to a record level and property [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.housepricespy.com/biggest-price-drop-since-1992.html</link>
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		<title>Buy to Let Sellout?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
Government legislation comes into force today which could see many &#8216;buy to rent&#8216; landlords selling up and place their propeties on the market, the rate of Capital Gains Tax has been cut from 40% to 18% (over value of £9,600) in the recent budget. This could lead to even more properties on sale, lowering prices [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.housepricespy.com/buy-to-let-sellout.html</link>
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		<title>Mortgage Rate Cut to 5%</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
The Bank of England surprised everyone yesterday but cutting the rate by 1/4 of a percentage to 5%. The trend has been maintain, lower, maintain, lower but few were expecting another drop so soon.
You can&#8217;t have escaped the doom and gloom (and even a bit of panic) in the media in the last few days [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.housepricespy.com/mortgage-rate-cut-to-5.html</link>
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		<title>Avoiding the credit crunch</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
With the current property climate you still have choices&#8230;Avoiding the credit crunch can be as simple as considering a few options:
 Consider an interest only mortgage, if you buy in the right area your property will gain value every year. 
 Move further afield, more and more people are commuting further to get on the [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.housepricespy.com/avoiding-the-credit-crunch.html</link>
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		<title>Availability of Mortgages to Decrease</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
The availability of mortgages in the UK will be under even stronger legislation according to The Bank Of England. Lenders have reduced the number and value of mortgages granted up to March 2008 and from figures given to the The Bank Of England are set to reduce this figure further in the next 3 months.
This [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.housepricespy.com/availability-of-mortgages-reduced.html</link>
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		<title>Mortgages fall by a third</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
The total number of approved mortgages have fallen by a third on the same time last year to just over 43,000. The drop in demand for the housing market coupled with stringent rules on how much and under what circumstances mortgages can be given has seen less people take the plunge compared with February 2007.
However [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.housepricespy.com/mortgages-fall-by-a-third.html</link>
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		<title>Buy-to-let Mortgages</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
Buy-to-let Mortgages seem to have taken a downturn due to the rise in property value of the last 10 years. With property on average cost double or 50+ what it was in 1997 the profits of buying to let have dropped and less investers are taking up this option.
With the recent policy changes at most [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.housepricespy.com/buy-to-let-mortgages.html</link>
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		<title>Budget 2008</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling anounced their plans for the Budget 2008 with some interesting items relating to property:
Inheritance Tax - The allowance will be increased after the Budget 2008 to £324,000 per person.
Capital Gains Tax - The capital gains tax (CGT) annual exempt amount  will be £9600, with a charge of 18% above [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.housepricespy.com/budget-2008.html</link>
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		<title>Mortgage Rate Unchanged</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
The Bank Of England have left the mortgage rate unchanged for March 2008. The rate, as expected, was held at 5.25% with the announcement coming on the 6th.
After last months drop of 0.25% there was no change predicted for March and that is the way it has turned out with the government not wanting to [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.housepricespy.com/mortgage-rate-unchanged.html</link>
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		<title>Joint Mortgages</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
Joint Mortgages are becoming a more and more popular type of mortgage with many young couples not wanting to commit on their own and not wanting to get married formally. If you are living together but are not married then you will need to formalise any property agreement to prevent any acrimony later.
There are a [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.housepricespy.com/joint-mortgages.html</link>
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		<title>Mortgage Rate Decrease</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
The Bank Of England has reduced the mortgage rate for this months by a quarter of one percent to 5.25%.
This news follows concern that house prices in certain areas of the UK are falling with respect to the rest of the UK and the crisis in finance including Northern Rock.
See more detail and get next [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.housepricespy.com/mortgage-rate-decrease.html</link>
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		<title>Garden Bliss</title>
		<description><![CDATA[

Garden Bliss are an outdoor living and lifestyle site with products such as our door eating products, out door lighting, outdoor heating and gardening products.
Garden Bliss is the best way to make the most of your garden and the upcoming summer months where you will want to eat, play and generally hang out in the [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.housepricespy.com/garden-bliss.html</link>
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		<title>Average Property Prices</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
Annual average property prices in the UK dropped for 2007 for the first ime since 1995. The average price in England was £174,000 which is down 11K on the prevfious year. The CEBR (Center For Economic Research)predicts a fall of 2.5% duing 2008.
This follows Northern Rock, US financial/lending crisis and last weeks stock market crash.
The [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.housepricespy.com/average-property-prices.html</link>
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		<title>First Time Buyers</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
The Scottish Parliament has put aside £24 million of tax payers to give first time buyers a step up on the housing ladder after a successful pilot scheme in Lothian.
Certain councils with higher than average property prices have been asked to join the scheme which allows buyers to buy a 60% to 80% stake in [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.housepricespy.com/first-time-buyers.html</link>
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		<title>No change in lending rate for January 2008</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
The Bank Of England has maintained the rate of interest for mortgages at 5.5% for January 2008. The ruling was made on the 10th and follows a reduction in inflation to 2.1% with a target of 2%.
This will be good news for borrowers following a busy Christmas period and 5 consecutive increases in 2007!
Property prices [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.housepricespy.com/no-change-in-lending-rate-for-january-2008.html</link>
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		<title>Childrens Rooms</title>
		<description><![CDATA[

Happy New Year to all readers of the House Price Spy Blog and members of the main site!!! It&#8217;s back to the real world and paying the mortgage after enjoying some well deserved(ish) time of from your work worries! The Bank of England will announce the new rate of interest on the 10th, more on [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.housepricespy.com/childrens-rooms.html</link>
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		<title>Prices to level off in 2008</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
The Nationwide Building Society claim that property Prices to level off in 2008. The slow down will be due to stricter lending conditions and less first time buyers being able to get on the property ladder.
Overall figures for the UK as a whole will see property prices fall by 5%, however if you live in [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.housepricespy.com/prices-to-level-off-in-2008.html</link>
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		<title>Equity Release</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
More and more people are considering an Equity Release programme to release money locked up in the positive capital invested in their property. Living in a giant house can be less fun when you don&#8217;t have a comfortable cashflow situation. There are two basic plans you can get with pros and cons for each:
Lifetime Mortgages [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.housepricespy.com/equity-release.html</link>
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		<title>Northern Rock</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
Further to my other blogs about the Northern Rock:
1. Gordon Brown rules out offering any assitance to The Northern Rock.
2. The media cause panic with investors who proceed to get up early to withdraw funds. 
3. Gordon Brown pledges to back The Northern Rock to the tune of several billion pounds.
4. Fickle savers rush to [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.housepricespy.com/northern-rock-2.html</link>
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		<title>Sites from House Price Spy</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
During the next year there are going to be new sister sites from House Price Spy that will be related to insurance, finance, DIY or anything else to do with the property in general.
Hopefully these will turn out to be as popular as the main House Price Spy site. They will have the same quality [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.housepricespy.com/sites-from-house-price-spy.html</link>
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		<title>Property figures for 2007</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
The BBC - Property has released sales figures for property in the UK have been released (up to mid November). Property figures for 2007 are as follows: 
 The fastest rising areas are Northern Ireland, East Anglia and the South West of England.  
 The average price for a property in the UK is [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.housepricespy.com/property-figures-for-2007.html</link>
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		<title>Single Surveys</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
The Scottish parliament  looks set to aprove legislation which would see another barrier removed from the foot of the housing ladder. The Single Surveys bill will make it manditory for every property seller to have a survey done prior to placing the property on the market.
 Surveys depend on the size, age and value [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.housepricespy.com/single-surveys.html</link>
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		<title>Important fees</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
When buying a property you will need to remember to include certain Important fees when calculating how much money you have to play with: 
 Important fees that you will have to pay when buying are as follows: 
 Stamp duty - 1% to 4% of value of property
 Estate agent&#8217;s fee - 1% to [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.housepricespy.com/important-fees.html</link>
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		<title>New Homes</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
The UK is facing a housing crisis with properties returning to 1980s values of inflation and negative equity a real threat. New homes need to be built on a scale not seen since the 1950s to prevent a housing crash in ther UK. 
 The UK is presently producing around 200,000 new homes each year [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.housepricespy.com/new-homes.html</link>
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		<title>New websites from House Price Spy</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
To use the familiar brand of House price Spy there will be several new websites from House Price Spy in the months to come! Using the quality functionality and know-how we have used to produce the main site housepricespy.com we will be extending our range of services into finance and insurance.
 We dont want to [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.housepricespy.com/new-websites-from-house-price-spy.html</link>
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		<title>Inheritance Tax</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
Inheritance Tax seems ridiculous to many people me included. Would it be OK to go to a shop pay tax on something and then have to pay tax again once you were fnished with it-which is basically what happens with Inheritance tax! You pay tax on money to pay for your home and then when [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.housepricespy.com/inheritance-tax-2.html</link>
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		<title>Mortgage rate unchanged for October</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
The Bank Of England has decided to make no change for October to the Mortgage Bank Rate. The last change was a 0.25% rise in June, this was the last of a series of rises which has checked inflation in property pricing and some concern about unsustainable prices and lack of adequate housing.
 While there [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.housepricespy.com/no-change-for-october.html</link>
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		<title>Buy To Let</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
With all the doom and gloom about property prices Buy To Let properties are still looking to be a great option in the long run. With rising population and no increase in suitable housing the gap between the first rung of the housing ladder and renting is sure to be exploited by landlords who can [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.housepricespy.com/buy-to-let.html</link>
			</item>
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		<title>Northern Rock Bailed out By Gordon Brown</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
 After my blog of a few weeks ago I thought I would follow that up a little bit. Gordon Brown had vowed not to go down the route that the US has which led to instability in financial institutions saying that they were on their own.  
 With the Northern Rock hysteria caused [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.housepricespy.com/northern-rock.html</link>
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		<title>Property prices to drop?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
You can&#8217;t have failed to notice that there was somewhat of an international crisis going on&#8230;American lenders have been criticized for irresponsible lending causing chaos in the international markets. The US Treasury has used reserve federal cash to consolidate lenders. 
 The governor of the Bank Of England Mervyn King has now requested that Gordon [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://blog.housepricespy.com/property-prices-to-drop.html</link>
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