Dr. Peter Bacon:

I think it was credit-fuelled but I think what the credit was fuelling was demand. The housing market is different from buying a banana. The stock is effectively fixed and adjustments to the stock take place very slowly. That is in the nature of it, and land acquisition, planning and all the rest can take five or six years. Once speculative forces start to take off in the housing market, it is a pretty safe bet that the trend will not be reversed.