While races may have false starts, the booming housing market has had false stops over the past few years. But this time the long-predicted slowdown seems to be the real thing. Figures from the Bank of England revealed a sharp fall in mortgage-loan approvals in July to 97,000 from 112,000 in June. The decline was the biggest in over ten years. The Nationwide Building Society reported that house prices rose by only 0.1% in August, down from a monthly increase of 2.1% in July.
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