Fionnuala has a go at spinning the dreadful house price numbers.

And of course, she fails miserably.

My favourite comment was the one about the pace of decline stablising. I think she means that we've had a couple of months where house prices fell by 1 percent a month. Keep it coming Fionnuala; that kind of monthly price decline will be just fine by me.

She also thinks that the US housing bailout will help here in the UK; which will stabilise credit markets here in the UK. This is an implicit admission that housing inflation needs credit growth. Where is all that previous guff about demand pressures?

Old habits die hard, she finishes off by saying housing prices are higher by "60 percent in real terms."