USA : 1st rise in property prices in two years

The U.S. housing sees the end of the tunnel. A study of the company IHS Global Insight, house prices in the U.S. rose 0.9% on average annually in the third quarter of 2009, signing to pass their first increase since the second quarter 2007. Prices are up in 169 of the 330 cities studied, against just 13 in the fourth quarter of 2008 at the height of the crisis.

Caution, this improvement "does not necessarily mean that the market is on the road to recovery," warns James Diffley, managing director at IHS Global Insight. An opinion shared by Jeannine Cataldi: chief economist for the society, it is undeniable that the support measures implemented by the Obama administration in the recovery plan have played their role. However, "economic conditions remain dire, with an unemployment rate should remain close to 10% for quite a long time," says she, in fact rejecting a fair market rebound.