In Nov 1979 the base rate was 17% and because this level (between 14 and 17%) was sustained throughout much of the 80�s it led to the eventual collapse. As Pippa has said the Bank of England base rate hit 14.88% in October 1989. This caused a lot of people to have houses repossessed as they couldn�t afford the mortgages, and buyers couldn�t buy property at the level of prices because they could not get mortgages that were affordable. A lot of people also lost jobs so the property market was saturated, but there were no buyers. Institutions ended up auctioning off repossessed homes for a snippet.
In Nov 1979 the base rate was 17% and because this level (between 14 and 17%) was sustained throughout much of the 80�s it led to the eventual collapse. It was at its lowest in July 2003 at 3.5% and has increased by 2% since. The current level of 5.5% was also in place in Oct 1977 so a lot can happen in 2 years.