Our interactive overview of global house prices and rents
SCARCELY has one bubble deflated when another threatens to pop. While America's housing bust—the crash that began the global financial crisis—is near an end, adjustments elsewhere are incomplete. In a few countries, like China and France, values look dangerously frothy. There is always trouble somewhere. And because buying a house usually involves taking on lots of debt, the bursting of this kind of bubble hits banks disproportionately hard. Research into financial crises in developed and emerging markets shows a consistent link between house-price cycles and banking busts.
The Economist has been publishing data on global house prices since 2002. The interactive tool above enables you to compare nominal and real house prices across 20 markets over time. And to get a sense of whether buying a property is becoming more or less affordable, you can also look at the changing relationships between house prices and rents, and between house prices and incomes.