Over half a million people will fall behind with their mortgage payments this year and the worst thing they could do is ignore their problems and hope for the best.

Politicians from across the UK this week called on the Government in Westminster to cut VAT to five per cent for all building repair and maintenance work.

Whilst the precise impact varies from one city or country to another, it is clear that the world's property markets continue to be impacted by global financial and economic concerns.

Markets continued to digest the weaker US Non-Farm Payrolls data placing the US Dollar under continued pressure at the start of the week as it provided further evidence of the global slowdown.

Foreign exchange broker, World First, has seen the number of clients bringing euros back to the UK double in the last 12 months. The dramatic drop in the value of sterling has resulted in many expats and second home owners selling up and coming home.

Foreign direct investment into China has declined rapidly following a bumper year in 2008 and this trend looks set to continue for the foreseeable future...

The International Monetary Fund dashed all hopes of a quick recovery from the current economic downturn today when they announced that the UK would plunge into the deepest recession of any industrialised country this year...

America’s two largest mortgage lenders - Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae - have introduced a series of new measures to help those homeowners who are facing foreclosure...

Liam Bailey, head of residential research at Knight Frank comments: -

"The decision to cut the base rate is welcome, although unlikely to have a dramatic immediate effect on the housing market it will reduce costs for a portion of homeowners.

Winkworth welcomes today’s decision to cut interest rates to a new record low of 1%. This news comes in the same week as the Bank revealed that it has lent £185bn to financial institutions since April last year. However, Winkworth believe the Bank still needs to do more to help restore lending levels.