The Economist's Global House-Price Indices

"If there is one single factor that has saved the world economy from a deep recession it is the housing market...It is thus unfortunate that timely data on house prices across different countries are much harder to come by than figures on the prices of shares. To help fill this gap The Economist is launching a set of global house-price indices. We have collected annual data on house prices in 13 developed economies going back to 1980, both on an average nationwide basis and in big cities." [Includes charts and graphs.]