Mr. Derek Moran:

Let me pick through it. House prices are continuing to go up and they are going up at a rapid pace. Is that something at which those of us in the Department look and about which we are concerned? Yes, it is. However, house prices are still about 30% below their peak. I do not think anyone should aspire to reaching their peak values because they were not sustainable, but they are well below them. They are, however, going up faster than earnings. Is that a cause of concern at which we look? Yes, it is. Is it being driven by cheap credit or a credit bubble? The answer is no. Credit is not that cheap and the level of mortgage lending is still subdued. Are people over-leveraging, as they did in the past, with all of the social and financial consequences? The macro-fiscal rules the bank has brought in place absolute constraints on what people can borrow as a multiple of their income. We have to take a number of views on it. Are we looking at it as an economic risk factor and so on? Yes, we are.