The shopping fix is over, warns economics expert

SHOPPING sprees will become a thing of the past amid an economic downturn that could see house prices fall by up to 20% in the next year, a leading economist predicted yesterday.

Robin Turner, Western Mail - 23 July 2008

Mark Berrisford-Smith, a senior economist with HSBC bank, told an invited audience at the Royal Welsh Show that Britain’s 15-year economic renaissance fuelled by a “borrow and spend” credit card-backed shopping spree was now firmly over.

“We need to find something else to replace shopping,” he told a business breakfast on the Llanelwedd showground

“If you are under 38 years old you are facing the toughest time since you started work,” said Mr Berrisford-Smith.

“If we escape a recession it will be a close-run thing and this is going to go on possibly into 2010.”

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