MoneyWeek magazine issue 379

Apr 11, 2008 / issue 379

Profits ahoy!

Three frontier markets to buy now... PLUS:

• House prices are falling - here's how to profit

• Should companies be able to employ prisoners?

• Bill Bonner on why you should be hoarding gold

From the editor

By John Stepek

A painful lesson for Britain
House prices are falling. It’s official. The Halifax house price index for March this week revealed that the average UK house is worth £191,556. That’s a full 1.3% less than the £194,094 seen in March 2007.

Both Nationwide and Halifax now say that house prices are set to fall this year – although only by low single digits. And of course, argues the Halifax, this should be seen in the context of the 180% or so growth in house prices over the past ten years, so it’s not really that bad. And anyway, the fundamentals of the UK economy are ‘sound’, with low unemployment set to prop up the housing market. Chancellor Alistair Darling and Gordon Brown said much the same thing.
Read the full editor's letter here: A painful lesson for Britain