Barclays head predicts further house price falls

published 15 December 2008

The head of Barclays bank has predicted that house prices will fall in total by 30%. John Varley, group chief executive of Barclays, painted a bleak outlook in an interview on Sky News, during which he criticised mortgage borrowing levels over the last decade.

He warned the UK was only ‘halfway’ through the arc of house price falls. He said: ‘Our view was that from the top to the bottom, you would see a fall of something like 25 to 30%.

‘We're probably about halfway through that period, so in other words we've got another 10 to 15% to fall between now and the end of next year.’

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