Year of ups and downs for home owners

Press, 2 December 1987, Page 16

Year of ups and downs for home owners

1987 has been as erratic for mortgage interest races as 1986, with mortgage holders never sure what would happen next.

The year started ominously after a round of small Increases in December when rates moved to between 17.5 and 19.25 per cent. At the time, financial institutions warned that further increases would follow and by February the warning had become reality. Rates were nearly as high as the previous February when they had peaked at 21.5 to 23.5 per cent for first mortgages. By mid-year, the rates had steadied and leveled at between 19 and 22.5 per cent. Institutions were adamant that rates were unlikely to move again until after the election. Some were also saying that the outcome of the election would affect what would happen to the rates — a Labour win

meant a continuation of the present policies and a general downward trend; a National win meant a time of uncertainty and a holding

of the rates at high levels. “The Press” mortgage interest rate table published three days before the election shows only