Banking on a fall

The subprime crisis rocked the financial markets in the middle of the year. The ensuing liquidity crunch has led many central banks to reassess their monetary policies, which had previously followed a tightening bias. But how have central banks' policies affected the global mortgage markets? Sarfraz Thind investigates

Central banks in the US, UK and Europe came under pressure in the third quarter this year to respond to the global liquidity crisis by cutting rates. Despite the US Federal Reserve cutting its federal funds rate by 50 basis points to 4.75% in September, the Bank of England has not yet followed suit. Many people, however, believe a cut is likely both in the UK and in Europe before the year-end. The question for mortgage bankers is when an expected cut might come, and what further action might be