Now here is a thought. Over the past months, the rate of foreclosures (repossession) per head of population in the US has been running ahead of the rate of new homes built per head of population in the UK.

I haven't got the precise figures on UK completions, because they haven't been published. But on the basis of the NHBC data, I am probably well on the safe side.

Crudely, the average monthly figure over the past three months works out at about 270 to 280 homes repossessed per million in the US against about 230 to 240 homes built per million in the UK.

Scary really.