Not looking good for proberdee investors in the US... Still, if things do start to look as though they'll move downwards, they could go back to the reckless lending of old, such as recommended by Osborne with his Help to Sell initiative.

Pull up yer chairs - this should be fun! Estate agents are appealing to the spirit of co-operation in a bid to topple Rightzoopla. Apparently they don't like the fact that "70% of Rightmove’s income is profit" ... Viva La Revolution!!!

Average Value of Loans £155,900 and many other interesting pieces of data. eg: Number of motgages offered MoM (dropped by 0.1%), New Household borrowing £16bn in April. Savings stats and a lot more. Offers a .pdf or Excel download.

The British Bankers Association (BBA) reports that mortgage approvals went up in April helped by government schemes that aim to help more first-time buyers get onto the property ladder.

"Three fraudsters have been jailed for what is believed to be the biggest ever plot to make fake pound coins - after 50,000 false coins were found". "Det Insp Bruce South said: "These three men are organised criminals who were intent on undermining the UK monetary system". Pity someone doesn't arrest the world's Central Bankers too.

"U.S. house prices rose 7.2 percent in the year through March, the biggest gain since May 2006, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said". "Prices jumped 16.1 percent from a year earlier in the Pacific area, which includes California, Washington and Oregon. In the Mountain region, including Arizona, Colorado and Nevada, the gain was 14.4 percent, the FHFA said. The Middle Atlantic area -- New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania -- had the smallest increase, at 1.6 percent".

We've seen some strange stuff on property details ... but is that what I think it is on the bedroom floor ... ??!! Yes. Yes. YES IT IS!!

Yes, we did mean $50 million… Fashion designer Gianni Versace’s Miami Beach mansion has been on the market since June last year, but it seems that its 24-karat gold-lined swimming pool and numerous high-camp frescos and its own observatory have not been enough to entice a buyer at its original price of $125 million, or even its bargain-bucket reduction to $100 million

Merryn Somerset Webb, editor in chief of MoneyWeek, has long predicted a collapse of the housing bubble. Here she looks at the growing number of government interventions in the UK housing market and the possible outcomes that are likely to end in disaster. (Or more affordable housing if you look at it another way).

Global markets fell after weak Chinese data and worries that the US Federal Reserve may slow its monetary stimulus. In Asia, the fall was led by Japan's Nikkei index, which closed down 7.3%, having fallen as much as 10%. European markets also reversed recent rises, with London, Frankfurt and Paris opening almost 2% lower. It followed data showing a slowdown in Chinese manufacturing, and Fed chairman Ben Bernanke's hint that Quantitative Easing efforts may be scaled back.