Silicon Valley home sales sizzle - 2004-03-04
The home-buying bidding wars has returned. One potential buyer had 10 competitors for a condo in San Jose's Willow Glen neighborhood priced at $489,000. He offered $530,000 but didn't get the home.

Low mortgage interest rates -- less than 6 percent for the average 30-year fixed-rate loan -- are part of what's driving demand. Buyers' increasing confidence in the economy is another reason, agents say.
Read the full story at San Jose Mercury News

First-time buyers are 'overtaxed' - 2004-03-04
The stamp duty threshold for first-time buyers should be increased, the UK's largest building society has indicated.

Halifax, the UK's largest mortgage lender, has also expressed concern about stamp duty.

It said the average first-time buyer now paid the equivalent of around 6% of their deposit or around two weeks of their annual income on the tax.
Read the full story at BBC