Soaring interest rates are seeing house sales fall through after panic hit the property market earlier this week, according to one Welsh estate agent. Lenders pulled nearly 1,000 mortgage deals from the market - an unprecedented overnight drop - as analysts predicted a house price crash within months.
With interest rates expected to double next year, banks including HSBC and Santander suspended offers to new customers amid fears they would not be repaid, leaving home buyers in limbo. Meanwhile, property prices are expected to plummet as millions of existing owners try to sell up after no longer being able to afford their payments.
"I have never seen it like this," said Ian Wyn-Jones, an estate agent in north Wales whose had 20 sales fall through since the Government's mini-budget a week ago. "That’s 20 households who have had their life turned upside down in a matter of days."
