Housing Bubble Bursting Worldwide

Nice article today in the NY Times (subscription required). It cites housing crashes going on (in various stages) in the US, Britain, Spain, Northern India, Ireland, Hong Kong and southern China.

Ireland's case is striking because its economy has been one of the hottest on the planet. In Dublin, prices are falling as prices simply got too high regardless of how hot the economy was. This is a lesson that those in Western Canada should heed in light of their strong commodity based economy. Vancouver with its $800K housing: look out below!The boom was worldwide and synchronized.

Why would the bust be confined to the US, which wasn't even the hottest market? And more importantly, why would Canada be exempt from the bust while fully participating in the boom? Bulls, feel free to answer these questions...

"Housing Woes in U.S. Spread Around Globe", Mark Landler, New York Times, April 14, 2008.