http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,7987577%255E601,00.htmlBorrowers should prepare for interest rates to rise by a further one percentage point and builders to face a market crash, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
The OECD has expressed real concern that nations such as Australia, the US and Britain remain highly indebted and may suffer "large wealth losses, especially in the housing sector, should interest rates increase abruptly".
Despite the grim predictions, the OECD's half-yearly report released in Paris last night, is upbeat about the prospects for Australia, with growth predicted at 3.7 per cent next year and 4 per cent in 2005 as the worst effects of the world downturn and the drought pass.
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note: although much of this article refers to the Australian economy, the second paragraph quoted above does not - and I believe may serve as a warning shot across the bow