Heading for a brick wall.

If someone had told you three years ago that share prices in America and Europe would plunge by almost 50%, you would have braced yourself for a deep global recession. One reason why many economies have held up better than expected is that rising house prices have offset the loss of equity wealth and so helped to support consumer spending. Indeed, in America housing is arguably the only remaining prop for the economy. But by keeping interest rates low to cushion the economy from a slump in share prices, some central banks may have inflated a housing bubble. America, Australia, Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands and Spain look most at risk. Yet even as house prices start to wobble, many housing experts continue to insist that "this time is different": because interest rates will not rise significantly in the near future, they say, a slump in house prices is unlikely.