Further suffering for the housing sector

THE expected hike in ECB interest rates next month will damage the housing market further as higher borrowing costs will prevent thousands of potential buyers entering the market.

The hike threat comes as Finance Minister Brian Lenihan warned yesterday the economy was facing very demanding circumstances.

“We’re in the middle of a huge credit squeeze. There is a shortage of credit and that is a serious problem,” he told journalists at a meeting of the European Construction Industry Federation in Dublin.