REAL ESTATES FORUM

The New York Times
April 14, 2008

Housing Woes in U.S. Spread Around Globe
By MARK LANDLER

DUBLIN -- The collapse of the housing bubble in the United States is
mutating into a global phenomenon, with real estate prices swooning from the
Irish countryside and the Spanish coast to Baltic seaports and even parts of
northern India.

This synchronized global slowdown, which has become increasingly stark in
recent months, is hobbling economic growth worldwide, affecting not just
homes but jobs as well.

In Ireland, Spain, Britain and elsewhere, housing markets that soared over
the last decade are falling back to earth. Property analysts predict that
some countries, like this one, will face an even more wrenching adjustment
than that of the United States, including the possibility that the downturn
could become a wholesale collapse.

To some extent, the worldąs problems are a result of American contagion. As
home financing and credit tightens in response to the crisis that began in
the subprime mortgage market, analysts worry that other countries could
suffer the mortgage defaults and foreclosures that have afflicted
California, Florida and other states.

Citing the reverberations of the American housing bust and credit squeeze,
the International Monetary Fund last Wednesday cut its forecast for global
economic growth this year and warned that the malaise could extend into
2009.

łThe problems in the U.S. are being transmitted to Europe,