The European Mortgage Federation has set out a series of recommendations, which are designed to contribute proactively to the European Commission’s initiatives to restore long-term sustainable mortgage financing in the EU.

The European Central Bank has kept the European base rate at 2%.

The European Central Bank has lowered its benchmark interest rate by 0.5% to 2% and the ECB hinted that the rate would fall further. The rate has now more than halved in the past three months.

The European Central Bank (ECB) dropped its base rate by 75 basis points to 2.5 per cent - the largest cut in its 10 year history.

The number of house hunters has dropped considerably in July with an average of 192 on estate agents books compared to 226 the month before, reports the National Association of Estate Agents. This has dropped from 314 house hunters in July 2007 and 326 in both August and September last year.

The Nationwide Consumer Confidence Index fell by 11 points to 51 in July. Overall consumer confidence is 18% lower than this time last month and 46% lower than a year ago. These are the largest recorded falls in the index so far.