Experts warn of no mortgage recovery in 2009

The warning follows Bank of England figures which show the number of mortgage approvals for house purchases held steady at 31,000 in January. Although this has remained broadly the same for the last six months, it represents a huge fall from the 100,000 monthly figure seen throughout 2007. "If things stay as they are, we can expect to see 30% fewer mortgages this year than in 2008 - down from 529,000 house purchases last year to around 372,000," says Louise Cuming, head of mortgages at moneysupermarket.com. Cuming says the reasons for the slump are two-fold: low consumer confidence an...