Its called going 'belly up' in anyones language.
Economies in 'slippers by the fire' while the rest of the world were busying themselves with attaining the same living standards of those of us in the west.
Globalisation means that the only answer is either trade tariffs-or competing with these 'peasant' economies at their levels of pay.

antony Graham, southport, England

In the US, people move house on the average of every 9 years, much higher than other countries. In CA, FL and NV, the transient population rate is even higher. So if you need to move to get or keep employment and have found yourself with an upside down mortgage (owe more than the house is worth) then the practical thing to do is to mail the keys back to the mortgage holder and walk. It might not be the most ethical thing, and it will certainly blacken your credit record, but it's the most logical course for many people who made foolish real estate decisions.

Also, think of this. Imagine you're a home owner in CA with a house that's lost 40% of it's value and you're getting a mortgage reset doubling your monthly payments (on it's old value). Next door is the exact same house for sale at half the price of yours. You buy the next house at the new, depressed price and THEN you walk away from the old house and it's debts, absorbing the 2-7 yr blow to your credit rating. It happening.

alice, salado, us/tx

Anyone ever traveling through Southern California, Nevada and Florida in the last 10 years could see just how bad the housing boom was becoming. It was reminiscent of the dot-com craze where any company listed as "technology", no matter what they actually produced, saw their stock jump as people bought into the hype machine. It's the same with builders in those states. They saw a quick way to make cash and started slapping up the most hideous housing subdivisions in the most horrid areas. Politicians and banks were all the more happy to watch it happen as (bad) loans and property tax dollars started to roll in. Now the builders are bankrupt, the banks are losing record amounts of money (if not bankrupt themselves) and the local governments are having to cut back on social programs to cover the loss in tax revenues. The American economy has been relying on the boom or bust model for over a decade. This is just another cycle that will be repeated somewhere in the next 20 years. Too sad.

Charles, Seattle, USA

This is Greenspan's legacy as a result from cutting the interest rate to a silly 1%, post 9/11. An even more spectacular success for Al Qaeda...

cww, suffolk,

Wait a minute! People don't stop paying just because the market price of a house drops; There must be «real economy» reasons like unemployment and mortage responsabilities inconsistent with family income. I'm not naïve enough to think that the real estate prices won't influence employment and incomes; I understand the process. What I don't see is why people would stop paying if it eren't for the excessive ammount of the loan in the first place.

So, It's not the price drop that is driving repocessions.. it is the incapacity to repay excessive loans.

Rui, Lisbon, Portugal

"The three states reported some of the biggest house price rises in recent years"

A sobering fact for places in the UK that have had the biggest rises.

Fred Sly, Elgin, Scotland