It looks like there has been extra butter and syrup applied to the international housing market this year (ok, this was the last pancake reference, I promise). It is amazing how much the housing markets outside the US have seen significant appreciation over the past year.

When considering the impetus for the recent US housing boom and the current slow down, this certainly makes for a strong argument that the cause and effect was _not_ just about the US economy since the US has behaved as much as many other countries has. So perhaps we don’t need to be quite so zeroed in on Bernanke and the Fed and perhaps look toward other factors such as the trade deficit and the weakness of the dollar.

Here’s a sample of recent news links:

* [Canada [CBC]](http://www.cbc.ca/cp/business/060510/b0510116.html)

* [El Salvador [WaPo]](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/13/AR2006051300879.html)

* [India [India Telegraph]](http://www.telegraphindia.com/1060515/asp/business/story_6224431.asp)

* [Australia [National Nine]](http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=98867)

* [New Zealand [Stuff]](http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3661712a13,00.html)

* [Norway [Norway Post]](http://www.norwaypost.no/cgi-bin/norwaypost/imaker?id=24057)

* [China [China Daily]](http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2006-04/21/content_573478.htm)

* [Pakistan [Daily Times]](http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006%5C04%5C28%5Cstory_28-4-2006_pg11_1)

* [Moscow [Moscow Times]](http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/04/18/045.html)

* [UK [Telegraph]](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2006/05/14/ccecag14.xml&menuId=242&sSheet=/money/2006/05/14/ixcoms.html)

* [Ireland [Irish Examiner]](http://www.irishexaminer.com/irishexaminer/pages/story.aspx-qqqg=business-qqqm=business-qqqa=business-qqqid=3318-qqqx=1.asp)

_Have I left any countries out that have seen significant growth?_