Average house price: £62,037
Bank Base rate at year-end: 7.25%
House Price Inflation: 9.4%
General inflation: 3.1%
Oscar Best Picture Winner: The English Patient
Best-selling album: Oasis – Be Here Now
Must-have Christmas toy: Teletubbies and Tamagotchi jointly
Christmas number one: Spice Girls – Too Much
Mortgage/housing market highlights
UK mortgage lending changed shape in 1997 as major building societies demutualised and banks took over as the dominant force in mortgage lending. The Council of Mortgage Lenders took the first steps towards bringing consistency to mortgage selling and administration by bringing in a voluntary mortgage code to complement the banking code. The average mortgage advance was a modest £55,000 and in stark contrast to the interest rate environment homebuyers know today, borrowers in 1997 had to cope with no less than five interest rate changes.
The year’s most significant events
Tony Blair won a landslide victory for his party beginning the start of 10 years at number 10 under the banner of ‘New Labour’
Pete Sampras and Martina Hingis battled rivals to steal the Wimbledon crown in June
Manchester United won the Premier League championship with David Beckham voted Young Player of the Year
Princess Diana was tragically killed in a car crash in Paris after being chased by paparazzi. The UK responded with overwhelming displays of affection for ‘the people’s princess’
April saw golf legend Tiger Woods break multiple records in the Masters golf tournament
J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philospher’s Stone is published in the UK marking the beginning of the nation’s love affair with wizards and Quidditch
Chancellor Gordon Brown gave the Bank of England independence from political control in move described as the most radical shake up in the Bank’s 300-year history
Hong Kong was handed back to the Chinese authorities ending more than 150 years of British control
The Mars Pathfinder robot begins its exploration of the Red Planet; the first time a man-made craft has travelled over the surface of another planet.
