AUSTRALIA’S overvalued housing markets and high levels of debt put it at risk of being hit by the financial tsunami swamping markets in the United States, the International Monetary Fund has warned.
The IMF’s latest Global Financial Stability report, released overnight, estimates that losses to banks, borrowers, investors and other financial institutions in the US are now likely to exceed $A1000 billion. It says the crisis is spreading into prime real estate loans, consumer credit, commercial property and corporate debt.
» Australia vulnerable to US ‘tsunami’, IMF warns – The Age, April 9th 2008.