Bank of England poised to step in?

HSBC believes that the Bank of England is poised to intervene in the housing market in order to prevent the collapse of a growing housing bubble. Finance director Iain Mackay, said: "What we are all waiting for or perhaps wondering about is, as London or the south-east continues to move ahead, will the financial policy committee or the Bank of England reflect on how they wish to put some controls on lending into that sector?” HSBC has increased its share of the UK mortgage market since the financial crisis, but the bank also stressed that its loans were low risk and that the average loan to value of its mortgages was 47.3%. Meanwhile, the Telegraph’s James Kirkup says that the current state of the housing market could actually be attributed to the BoE keeping rates so low for so long. “That generosity cannot continue. Sooner or later, rates are going up”, he comments.