New Bank warning on house prices

THE BANK of England today issued a fresh warning that the longer house prices surge, the greater the risk of a property market crash. Marian Bell, a member of the Bank's rate-setting monetary policy committee, told a CBI meeting in Crawley, Surrey: 'The recent rate of increase in house prices is not sustainable.'

The Halifax bank last week reported house price inflation at almost 30% - the highest since the late Eighties.