This subprime mortgage default and derivative thing is not just effecting the united states. They have already had what amounted to a bank failure, Northern Rock Plc, and the Bank of England raised its rate to 5.75% in July so the era of easy money in British real estate is over.

Seeing as how a lot of Brits have been bidding up properties in places like Spain for vacation homes, this contagion will spread.

The only place possibly innoculated against this is Japan, since they just finished a 15 year long real estate crash.