In May this year, the UK housing market was running on 44 per cent less borrowing than in May 2007, according to a Council for Mortgage Lenders' report issued on 8 July. Imagine if you were surviving on 44 per cent less sleep. After a few days you would underperform, after a week you'd be a liability, and by the end of the month you'd be on the critical list. Something similar is happening to the health of UK house building, and the sickness is spreading from the housebuilders in the thick of the market to the architects that service them. Housebuilders expect to lose money at the bottom of market cycles, but the current 'correction'has caught them off balance. Major PLCs such as Barratt, Taylor Wimpey and Galliford Try were taking on huge loans just weeks before Northern Rock made debt toxic. They now have to repay these loans (in Barratt's case, to the tune of ￡1.7 billion) from a fraction of the cashflow projected. Taylor Wimpey reported on 2 July that rates of sale are down by 45 per cent against last year.
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