UK provides worrying portent for US housing market

US housing is at its least affordable for five years or more, according to a National Association of...

US housing is at its least affordable for five years or more, according to a National Association of Realtors index which has tracked median home prices versus incomes since May 2000. Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan said last month he sees "signs of froth in some local markets". That's his way of saying "God help the US economy if consumers can't rely on ever-higher property prices to boost their sense of economic well-being". There is plenty of evidence that housing-market bubbles don't deflate, they burst. Take Australia. In 2000, the average annual rise in house prices was 8.3...