Professor Patrick Honohan:

By pouring less credit into the demand side of the housing market as a whole, it seems likely that it will lower everything in terms of the direction of house prices and rental values. I am not saying it will bring them down from where they are but I am referring to where they are going. The problem with analysing this is in determining the other side of the market, the construction side, and whether there would be a response of construction. I do not believe so. There are delays in getting construction under way independently of the credit system. Builders do worry about the availability of credit for them in the process of building but that is only a small part of the supply.