星空传媒

It's not often you feel sorry for estate agents but poor old Countrywide Assured, owner of high-street names such as Bairstow Eves, Bereford Adams and Mann & Co, had a rough week. Its share price tumbled 21% to 97p last week after it issued its second profit warning of the year. Lack of demand in the housing market is to blame, apparently. The Financial Times (11 June) wondered if talk of a surge of post-Iraq confidence in the housing market was unfounded.

Perhaps Countrywide's woes are down to a dearth of first-time buyers, who are set to become "an endangered species" according to the Daily Express (16 June). Sales to young buyers fell to 14% last month, according to the National Association of Estate Agents, leading economists to worry that the market would stagnate.

Those first-time buyers won't be too pleased with the nation's savers, whose prudence is keeping the housing market buoyant, according to the Birmingham Post on 10 June. Research from Black Country-based Tipton & Cosely 星空传媒 Society found a record inflow of savings is fuelling an upturn in mortgage demand.

Meanwhile, chancellor Gordon Brown's plans to increase the use of long-term fixed-rate mortgages were hit by news in the Financial Times (12 June) that Freddie Mac, a US firm specialising in them, is having its accounting practices probed.