The author has been described by News Ltd as an "iconoclast", "Svengali", a pollie's "economist muse", and "pungently accurate". Fairfax says he is a "Renaissance man" and "one of Australia’s most respected analysts." Stephen Koukoulas concludes that he is "85% right", and "would make a great Opposition leader." Terry McCrann claims the author thinks "‘nuance’ is a trendy village in the south of France", but can be "scintillating" when he thinks "clearly". The ACTU reckons he’s "an enigma wrapped in a Bloomberg terminal, wrapped in some apparently well-honed abs."

Saturday, October 9, 2010

UK house prices resilient

This is our preferred index--prices look stable. Interestingly, it looks like they are setting up a house price derivatives market with the CME:

"LSL Acad HPI is the only UK house price index based upon every residential property transaction in England and Wales and is designed to provide a “true measure of house price inflation”. LSL Acad HPI has been chosen by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the world's largest derivative exchange, for their proposed residential house price derivative which we expect will be launched once the current falls in house prices can be seen nearing an end."