" title="LifeSiren"> LifeSiren

Like many people, I have been keeping an eager eye on developments in the economy and particularly on what is happening in the property market. This week we saw the third consecutive rise in average house prices, as reported by the building society Nationwide. Some analysts are now arguing that houses may actually rise in value by the end of 2009.

A couple of things worry me about this… Continue reading

We are in a terrible mess economically at the moment. What started out as a hairline fracture (a credit crunch) rapidly became a hefty old crack (or financial downturn). Then of course the whole thing shattered into recession.

At the heart of the current recession is property investment, and dodgy lending practices, with the invention and almost viral distribution of complex derivatives called collateralised debt obligations (CDOs). The solution… Continue reading