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  3. When Britain’s long-bubbly housing market slumped in 2008, few expected a quick rebound. After the last big house-price crash, i

When Britain’s long-bubbly housing market slumped in 2008, few expected a quick rebound. After the last big house-price crash, i

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问题     When Britain’s long-bubbly housing market slumped in 2008, few expected a quick rebound. After the last big house-price crash, in 1989, it took almost a decade for prices to recover to their previous heights, even in nominal terms. Yet this time around they have managed it in about half that time. In London, prices are already 25% above their 2008 peak, and are now rising at a rate of 18% a year. The average home in the capital costs more than ￡ 450 000; in some neighborhoods the average house price is more than ten times the average income. What explains this dramatic recovery, and the rising prices in London in particular?
    One cause is financial. Prices entered a downward spiral during the recession, as banks gave out less generous mortgages, which meant that only people with substantial cash deposits could get together the money to buy a house. Since then, thanks to government subsidies, 95% loan-to-value mortgages(for which the buyer needs a deposit worth only 5% the value of the house)have reappeared. The number of new mortgages approved for house purchases has increased by about one-half in the past year. Meanwhile, thanks to the policies of the Bank of England, interest rates are low, meaning people can afford to borrow large amounts. Yet cheap money is back all over Britain, and prices have not risen equally everywhere. In London and the more affluent parts of the southeast, they are soaring. But in most of the north of England, they are still substantially below 2008 levels.
    The London phenomenon is due to a restriction of supply at a time of soaring demand. In the north of England, slow economic growth, low population growth and plenty of new construction mean that there are lots of homes and not all that much demand for them. In London and the southeast, by contrast, tight planning rules and a shortage of land mean that relatively little new housing is being built, even as a booming economy and spectacular population growth create lots of demand for it. Tight "green belts"—areas in which most new construction is banned—surround London and small, pretty cities such as Oxford and Cambridge, making it difficult to build new suburbs. Tall apartment blocks are constricted by laws protecting the skyline, and by the difficulty and expense of acquiring land and demolishing(拆毁，毁掉)existing homes.
    That suggests that unless there is more construction, prices in London and the south east will continue to climb, at least as long as interest rates stay low, the population keeps growing and there isn’t another financial crisis.
What makes people be able to afford large amounts of mortgages?
选项 A、The government’s subsidies.
B、Lower prices of houses.
C、Easy approval to new mortgages.
D、Low interest rates.
答案D
解析
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