Speaking at a client conference Wade said it was no secret that UK growth had been disappointing, but added that the UK was not alone.
“The world economy is currently in a soft patch and although the K is not performing very well, there is no country that is performing particularly well right now.
“Despite this there are some bright spots beginning to appear in the world economy and US housing market is definitely one of these.”
During the crisis residential investment as a share of GDP in the US went from over 6.5% to 2%, which made a big dent in the economy.
Wade said recent statistics show growth is beginning to pick up in the US housing market, however, with credit also on the increase.
“In contrast credit is still contracting in the UK. Recent figures show that mortgage lending was still very, very weak and that is the underlying problem for the UK economy. The UK had one of the biggest financial crises and our banks, as a share of GDP, were some of the biggest in the world.
“Those banks now want to reduce their assets so they are not lending and are instead shrinking their balance sheets. It is imperative that we start to see some pick up in credit in the UK.”
