Per cent 25  December 2003  20  25 20  Household debt  15  15  10  10  5  5  0  0  -5  House prices  January 2004  -5 -10  -10 1983  1987  1991  1995  1999  2003  Sources: Norwegian Association of Real Estate Agents, Statistics Norway and Norges Bank  Home-owners who have seen the value of their dwellings rise have the possibility of taking up new mortgage-secured loans. They free up a portion of their home equity value to finance consumption and other investments. It is easiest to sell dwellings in the largest cities and some specific areas are particularly attractive. Residential property is now a fairly liquid and attractive investment. Price developments in the housing market are characterised by the fact that there is little change in the housing stock from one year to the next. As a result, higher demand for housing will in the first round translate into higher prices. Housing prices fluctuate more than prices for goods and services, where supply can be rapidly adapted. A persistently high rate of increase in house prices can in isolation engender expectations of a further rise and can thus prove to be self-reinforcing for a period. BIS Review 11/2004  17  Chart 26. Short-term interest rates in Norway Actual and market expectations.
Minouche Shafik: Making markets fair and effective Speech by Ms Minouche Shafik, Deputy Governor for Markets and Banking of the Bank of England, at the London School of Economics, London, 27 October 2014. *  *  *  Accompanying figures can be found at the end of the speech. Making markets fair and effective It is a real pleasure to be giving my first speech as Deputy Governor of the Bank of England at the London School of Economics (LSE). It resonates on so many fronts. The LSE has produced many members of the Monetary Policy Committee, Deputy Governors and indeed Governors of the Bank of England as well as vast numbers of its staff over the years. I was taught macroeconomics at the LSE by Charlie Bean, one of my predecessors at the Bank as well as by my host this evening, Nick Stern, when I did the MSc in economics. And the topic of my speech tonight resonates with the origins of the LSE as an institution that always sought to bring the best of academic thinking to the pressing problems of the day. As you will no doubt realise by the frequency of misconduct stories in the papers, Fixed Income, Currency and Commodity (or FICC) markets are certainly dealing with pressing problems.