text:
Talk:Legion (Marvel Comics)

Schizophrenia v Dissociative Personality Disorder (Multiple Personality)
Legion was called Schizophrenic back in the 80/90's where no one really took mental illness tags seriously. Since then, comics have referred to him as having Dissociative Personality Disorder (used to be called Multiple Personality) however they also point out that it is not known whether a) He really has it b) His powers give him symptoms of it, but he is not actually mentally ill

It should also be pointed out that when characters may refer to him as anything, e.g. mentally ill, schizophrenic it may often represent how they feel he is, not necessarily what he is.

I do not contribute to wikipedia enough to make these changes, but I think that an effort should be made to classify him correctly

Disco (talk) 02:56, 24 January 2017 (UTC)

Okay so someone smarter than me said that Dissociative Personality Disorder is on the spectrum of Schizophrenia. Which changes everything. Anyway I have changed it in the text but left all the Schizophrenic tags there, as they are technically correct. Disco (talk) 02:56, 24 January 2017 (UTC)

Untitled
Someone needs to change schizophrenic to multiple. That is a false statement, as Schizophrenia and multiplicity are different. Battrarules

His powers are also not complete. His telepathy and telekinesis have been stated, but not his pyrokinesis, reality warping, time traveling, possible shape shifting and teleportation abilities. Thomas Mason

the comic books clearly states David is a schizophrenic, as well as a multiple personality, read the Legion Quest story line Uncanny X-Men # 320, Storm asked that to Gabby (Legion's mom) sithlord

Legion, the name
i suspect that Legion's moniker is a reference to the story in the Bible where Jesus casts out a multitude of demons from a man named Legion, which then possess pigs that drown themselves in the Sea of Galilee.

does anyone want to confirm this and add it to the article?
 * done! SetaLyas (talk) 11:25, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

 * More simply, what you're referring to is the incident in the bible where Jesus met a man that was possessed by many demons. When he asked him his name, the man replied: "My name is Legion, for we are many." Roman Legions, which consisted of anywhere from 3000 to 5000 men, were well known in the time period that the bible was written. It's likely that, in that time period, "legion"(or it's latin origin word), was synonymous with any "large group of many people".
 * A "person possessed by many demons" seems like a spot-on description of Haller.Gcronau (talk) 19:57, 17 January 2018 (UTC)

Legion's Personalities
There's a lot missing here about Legion's multiple personality disorder that I myself am not equipped to write out fully for the article. As far as I know, though, the powers that David had available to him at any given time were based on which personality was dominant. The personalities turned out to be, in fact, the minds that he'd drawn into his own psyche as a child.

Also, after the Marvel Universe 'came back' from the Age of Apocalypse storyline, there was an X-Men story where Legion's multiple personalities had actually seperated from his mind and were existing as spirit-like entities until the X-Men were able to put them to rest.

I'd write all this up myself, but I don't have the resources available at the moment to make a proper go of it. Can anyone else handle this?--MythicFox 11:55, 3 February 2006 (UTC)

I wrote a little bit about his multiple personalities and their interaction with his powers. I may try to expand upon it in the future. --JamesAM 01:03, 15 May 2006 (UTC)

One more thing, it says his name is kevin even though it is still david. i don't have any references but i am still reading it literally right now. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.72.37.35 (talk) 16:06, 18 April 2009 (UTC)

Ultimate Legion?
Although never called Legion the Ultimate version of Proteus incorporated enough aspects of Legion (Powers, Xavier's son, first name David) that he probably deserves a mention here.

Extra Personalities?
The, rather extensive, list here of Legion's powers and the personalities with them have no foundation in canon to my knowledge. Does anyone know any better? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 150.204.147.103 (talk) 23:12, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

Citing Autism.
Don't know how to do it but here is the site: http://www.marvel.com/universe/Professor_X

Except that that seems to be a very imprecise lay use of the term "autism", even if it IS Marvel themselves using it- roughly equivalent to conflating schizophrenia and MPD. Catatonia would appear to be somewhat closer to medically accurate. Additionally, I find myself questioning the wisdom of citing one official source as evidence of "a number of writers" agreeing on a description. Are their other examples of this usage, or just the one?75.33.43.166 13:17, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

If he is described as Autistic the comic book writers clearly didn't do the research because if he was Autistic he would not have developed in in his teens there would have being some sign of it since he was a child. even with Asperger's syndrome they would have had some suspicion about him long before then as this quote on Asperger's says: "Diagnosis is most commonly made between the ages of four and eleven" and As this quote from the article on Autism says: "About half of parents of children with ASD notice their child's unusual behaviors by age 18 months, and about four-fifths notice by age 24 months" yes there are adult diagnoses but that is people who were different at a time when the Autism diagnosis didn't exist and are now finally figuring out why they are different. it is not for previously normal teens who withdraw socially. So even if the comics describe him as autistic we should not describe him as Autistic we should say that he has a mental disorder the comics inaccurately attribute to autism or something along that line. Tydoni (talk) 04:39, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

Length of Article
Why is this article so long if the article on Legion on Marvel.com is so short? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Golem866 (talk • contribs) 15:30, 16 January 2010 (UTC)
 * I don't see how the length of a Marvel article is basis for the length of a Wiki page. - Debuskjt — Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.37.247.106 (talk) 23:29, 29 June 2011 (UTC)

Removing the autism tag
I am removing the category tag stating that Legion is a Fictional characters on the autistic spectrum for reasons I listed in the Citing Autism section Tydoni (talk) 22:27, 8 August 2010 (UTC)

Can we add something explaining the difference between Schizophrenia and Multiple Personality Disorder? The sentence that mentions Legion being described as autistic and Schizophrenic just perpetuates the misconception that MPD is Schizophrenia!! In fact I was reading a message board about autism and one post provided evidence that this actual article had a second sentence doing exactly what I'm asking for here! Can we punish the person who deleted that?

I searched for about 30 minutes, and I think I found the person responsible. Here's the info: (cur | prev) 06:17, 8 March 2010 24.148.0.83 (talk) (12,766 bytes) (→Powers and abilities: or, it may be that he has mutiliple mental disorders?) (undo) TooMuchFun (talk) 02:39, 16 July 2011 (UTC)

Can the person who put the Fictional characters on the autistic spectrum tag on here explain why? I personally feel quite strongly that this tag does not belong here. If Marvel comics is describing him as Autistic based on the information given in this article the comic book writers clearly didn't do the research. Autism Spectrum Disorder develops in early childhood not early adolescence as is stated in both the Autism and Asperger's articles. The only way for a teen diagnosis to be valid is if Ms. Haller mentions him having Autistic symptoms as a child but not being diagnosed as a child because the disorder wasn't well known enough at the time of his childhood considering that he was probably born not long after World War II that window is there. However the information list the symptoms of his mental problems as more in line with Schizophrenia and Multiple Personality Disorder. Since the 1960s it has being know that Autism has nothing to do with Schizophrenia or Multiple Personality Disorder. If the comics are describing him as Autistic then the comic is working under very outdated information, unless there is some information in the comics that is not in the article in which case it should be included. I believe we should say that he has a mental disorder the comics inaccurately attribute to Autism or something along that line and not include the tag. Please explain why you think this tag should be included.

Tydoni (talk) 01:36, 25 October 2011 (UTC)

I have restored the tag since I have been told that if Marvel refers to him as Autistic then Wikipedia cannot be refuted for doing the same. As I have stated many times I do not agree with Legion being referred to as Autistic but that has nothing to do with the tag as Marvel does refer to him as Autistic. Should it be made clear that how Autism works in the Marvel world is different from how it works in the real world or would that be unnecessary natter? Tydoni (talk) 03:42, 11 November 2011 (UTC)

Right so, that very article refers to him as having multiple personality disorder (not schizophrenia) and yet we are calling him schizophrenic and autistic? 124.150.14.136 (talk) 23:47, 18 January 2017 (UTC)

There are different forms of autism. Each person is self, and can have different types of co-morbidity, including schizophrenia. I am autistic with comorbidities, yet I have not felt offended in reading that an autist can be schizophrenic, there are cases of autistic schizophrenics. Obviously these are just a few cases, not a big percentage. It must also be understood that neurodiversity and neurotypicity have similar probabilities regarding the percentage of co-morbidities. 26 May 2018 11:18 (CEST) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 46.21.176.197 (talk) 09:20, 26 May 2018 (UTC)
 * All of this is beside the point.Nowhere does it say in the article that he has autism. Nowhere is there a source (from Marvel or any secondary source) saying he has autism or ever had. That's why it doesn't belong. ZarhanFastfire (talk) 02:16, 7 June 2018 (UTC)
 * X-Factor Issue 108 from 1986 explicitly states that Legion is Autistic. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.118.91.186 (talk) 13:01, 14 September 2018 (UTC)

Obvious Error in the Opening Line?
I am not going to edit anything because I have no background in comics other than liking the movies and TV shows that are developed from them. But right at the start of this page it says that Magneto is Legion's father!?!? The rest of the lengthy article discloses at length that Professor X is Legion's father. Can't believe no one has noticed this.Dkelber (talk) 18:17, 18 March 2021 (UTC)

title: Talk:Legion (Marvel Comics)


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Jimmy shek

 This page is an archive of the discussion about the proposed deletion of the article below. This page is no longer live. Further comments should be made on the article's talk page rather than here so that this page is preserved as an historic record. The result of the debate was - deleted- SimonP 18:23, Jun 15, 2005 (UTC)

Jimmy shek
Delete: Vanity, does not assert notability, 8 google hits Wikibofh 15:28, 1 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Perhaps userfy to User: Jimmyshek (from the edit history of the article)? Wikibofh 15:41, 1 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Userfy. Zzyzx11 (Talk) 18:01, 1 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete/Userfy nn. --Etacar11 00:28, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete vanity. JamesBurns 11:17, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)

 * This page is now preserved as an archive of the debate and, like some other VfD subpages, is no longer 'live'. Subsequent comments on the issue, the deletion, or the decision-making process should be placed on the relevant 'live' pages. Please do not edit this page.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


text:
Allium canadense

Allium canadense, the Canada onion, Canadian garlic, wild garlic, meadow garlic and wild onion is a perennial plant native to eastern North America from Texas to Florida to New Brunswick to Montana. The species is also cultivated in other regions as an ornamental and as a garden culinary herb. The plant is also reportedly naturalized in Cuba.

Description
Allium canadense has an edible bulb covered with a dense skin of brown fibers. The plant also has strong onion odor and taste. Crow garlic (Allium vineale) is similar, but it has a strong garlic taste.

The narrow, grass-like leaves originate near the base of the stem, which is topped by a dome-like cluster of star-shaped, pink or white flowers. These flowers may be partially or entirely replaced by bulblets. When present, the flowers are hermaphroditic (both male and female organs) and are pollinated by American bees (not honeybees) and other insects. It typically flowers in the spring and early summer, from May to June.

Varieties
The bulblet-producing form is classified as A. canadense var. canadense. It was once thought that the tree onion could be related to this plant, but it is now known that the cultivated tree onion is a hybrid between the common onion (A. cepa) and Welsh onion (A. fistulosum), classified as A. × proliferum.

Five varieties of the species are widely recognized:
 * Allium canadense var. canadense - most pedicels replaced by bulbils, rarely producing fruits or seeds; most of the range of the species.
 * Allium canadense var. ecristatum Ownbey tepals deep pink and rather thick; coastal plain of Texas.
 * Allium canadense var. fraseri Ownbey - flowers white; Great Plains from Texas to Kansas.
 * Allium canadense var. hyacinthoides (Bush) Ownbey - tepals pink, thin, flowers fragrant; northern Texas and southern Oklahoma.
 * Allium canadense var. lavandulare (Bates) Ownbey & Aase - flowers lavender, not fragrant; northern Arkansas to South Dakota.
 * Allium canadense var. mobilense (Regel) Ownbey - flowers lilac, pedicels thread-like; southeastern US.

Uses
The Canada onion is cultivated as a vegetable in home gardens in Cuba, scattered locally in the south to western parts of the island. It was formerly collected from the wild to be eaten by Native Americans and by European settlers. People in the Cherokee Nation and Chickasaw Nation continue the tradition of picking and cooking wild onions in early spring. Various Native American tribes also used the plant for other purposes: for example, rubbing the plant on the body for protection from insect, lizard, scorpion, and tarantula bites.

The whole plant can be eaten raw, with the tougher outer layers removed. It can also be cooked and included in any recipe calling for onions. The species has an onion odor; if this is lacking, it may be that the poisonous deathcamas has been collected instead of A. canadense.

This plant can cause gastroenteritis in young children who ingest parts of this plant. Chronic ingestion of the bulbs reduces iodine uptake by the thyroid gland, which can lead to problems. No specific treatment is suggested other than to prevent dehydration. Livestock have also been poisoned by ingesting wild onions, and some have died. Horses have developed hemolytic anemia from ingesting wild onion leaves.

title: Allium canadense


text:
Azuga

Azuga is a small resort town in the mountains of Prahova County in the historical region of Muntenia, Romania. It is located at the foot of the Baiu Mountains and contains several ski slopes, including the longest ski run in Romania, the Sorica. Once heavily industrialized, Azuga contains a bottled water factory, (a leftover from a notable beer factory that brewed Azuga Beer, now produced elsewhere in Romania under license), a sparkling wine factory, wine tasting, and lodging (Cramele Rhein, owned by Halewood International). The town offers a view over the Bucegi Mountains, from street level to the top of the Sorica mountain, where a gondola arrival station is located. Azuga is one of the most famous mountain resorts of Prahova Valley.

Until the winter of 2002, Azuga was known as an industrial town. After that date, the town was turned into a resort to capitalize on the mountain landscape of the Baiu Mountains. Shortly after, the Sorica slope was certified by the International Ski Federation. Today, Azuga houses many hotels and hostels that provide accommodation for tourists. Accommodation in local homes can also be found for a lower price. The town formerly had several other factories including a beer factory, a glassware factory and a wool cloth factory, but those factories were demolished. The refractory materials factory, while still standing, is closed.

Natives

 * Stelică Morcov (born 1951), light-heavyweight freestyle wrestler
 * Simona Păucă (born 1969), artistic gymnast
 * Alexandru Vagner (1989–2022), footballer
 * Gheorghe Voicu (born 1950), biathlete
 * Ion Zangor (1938–1973), bobsledder

Climate
Azuga has a warm-summer humid continental climate (Dfb in the Köppen climate classification).

Tourism
The town is an emerging ski resort, with extensive development in tourism infrastructure.

Sorica is a ski slope with a length of over 2100 m and a vertical drop of 561 m. The slope is recommended for both beginners and experienced skiers.

There are also two slopes descending the Cazacu Mountain, one is 1920 m long (with a drop of 530 m) and the other, more suitable for beginners, is 400 m long, with a drop of 115 m. Slopes are equipped with ski lifts and a Leitner gondola lift, which goes to the top of Sorica slope, allowing skiers to choose between the two main slopes (access to Cazacu slope requires some tens of meters of ascending, possibly by a small ski lift).

Because of the almost constant winds on the ridge during winter, the uppermost station is a few meters below the top. A higher station would have likely had icing issues, making morning startups difficult as sometimes the only alternative is the snow groomer - snowmobiles not being able to travel in fresh high snow.

In the summer, Azuga is a hiking destination, being a starting point for trips to various mountain destinations in Predeal, Bușteni, or Sinaia. Unpaved forest roads attract many bicycle enthusiasts, who can ride along the Azuga River, which is peppered with small wooden artificial waterfalls that oxygenate the water for the many trouts that naturally populate the river.

title: Azuga


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/We are the Mainstream

 This page is an archive of the discussion about the proposed deletion of the article below. This page is no longer live. Further comments should be made on the article's talk page rather than here so that this page is preserved as an historic record. The result of the debate was - deleted - SimonP 15:52, Jun 15, 2005 (UTC)

We are the Mainstream
Non-notable website. 480 google hits, and not many relate to the website in question. — Xezbeth 15:30, Jun 1, 2005 (UTC)
 * My brand new Mozilla Firefox browser extensions record a Google Page Rank of 0/10 and no Alexa rank at all. Doesn't sound particularly popular or notable. Delete. Mgm|(talk) 18:56, Jun 1, 2005 (UTC)
 * It isn't. There are around 370 hits for the page title, and most of them have nothing to do with this site. --Idont Havaname 19:28, 1 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Oops, this vote is supposed to be to delete. --Idont Havaname 19:29, 1 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete nn vanity. --Etacar11 00:29, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Delete non notable. JamesBurns 11:18, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)

 * This page is now preserved as an archive of the debate and, like some other VfD subpages, is no longer 'live'. Subsequent comments on the issue, the deletion, or the decision-making process should be placed on the relevant 'live' pages. Please do not edit this page.


text:
Housing bubble

A housing bubble (or a housing price bubble) is one of several types of asset price bubbles which periodically occur in the market. The basic concept of a housing bubble is the same as for other asset bubbles, consisting of two main phases. First there is a period where house prices increase dramatically, driven more and more by speculation. In the second phase, house prices fall dramatically. Housing bubbles tend to be among the asset bubbles with the largest effect on the real economy because they are credit-fueled, ,and a large number of households participate and not just investors, and because the wealth effect from housing tends to be larger than for other types of financial assets.

Housing bubble definition
Most research papers on housing bubbles use standard asset price definitions. There are many definitions of bubbles. Most of them are normative definitions, like that of Joseph Stiglitz (1990), that try to describe bubbles as periods involving speculation, or argue that bubbles involve prices that cannot be justified by fundamentals. Examples are Palgrave (1926), Flood and Hodrick (1990), Robert J. Shiller (2015), Smith and Smith (2006) and Cochrane (2010).

Stiglitz's definition is: "...the basic intuition is straightforward: if the reason that the price is high today is only because investors believe that the selling price will be high tomorrow—when ‘fundamental' factors do not seem to justify such a price—then a bubble exists." (Stiglitz 1990, p. 13)

Lind (2009) argued that we needed a new definition of price bubbles in the housing market, an "anti-Stiglitz" definition. His point is that traditional definitions such as that of Stiglitz (1990), in which bubbles are proposed as arising from prices not being determined by fundamentals, are problematic. This is primarily because the concept "fundamentals" is vague, but also because these type of nominal definitions typically do not refer to a bubble episode as a whole—with both an increase and a decrease of the price. Lind claims that the solution is to define a bubble by focusing only on the specific development of prices and not on why prices have developed in a certain way. The general definition of a bubble would then simply be: "There is a bubble if the (real) price of an asset first increases dramatically over a period of several months or years and then almost immediately falls dramatically." (Lind 2009, p. 80)

Inspired by Lind (2009), Oust and Hrafnkelsson (2017) created the following housing bubble definition: "A large housing price bubble has a dramatic increase in real prices, at least 50% during a five-year period or 35% during a three-year period, followed by an immediate dramatic fall in the prices of at least 35%. A small bubble has a dramatic increase in real prices, at least 35% during a five-year period or 20% during a three-year period, followed by an immediate dramatic fall in the prices of at least 20%."

Housing bubbles vs. overpricing in the housing market
Overpricing can be said to be a necessary, but insufficient indicator that a bubble exists. Overpricing is defined more widely than a bubble. An asset may be overpriced without there being a bubble, but you cannot have a (positive) bubble without overpricing. Over- or underpricing may simply be defined as a deviation from the equilibrium price. DiPasquale and Wheaton (1994) say that: "Indeed, it appears to be normal for housing prices to deviate from the fundamental value or equilibrium price, since housing markets clear gradually rather than quickly in a short run."

Mayer (2011) investigated house price bubbles and found that there are basically three approaches researchers take when investigating house price differ from equilibrium.

First, there is the finance-based method, where the house price equals the discounted future rents. This follows the same logic when performing a stock valuation; the stock price is equal to the discounted sum of all future dividends. The idea is that the value of equity is equal to the discounted dividends. Price rent ratio and user cost of housing are methods that fall under this method.

The second approach is to compare the costs of building new dwellings against the actual house prices today. Much of the construction cost method has its basis in the demand and supply curve theory. If demand is low, this leads to lower house prices and less construction of new homes. Glaeser and Gyourko (2005) point out that the housing market is characterized by a kinked supply curve that is highly elastic when prices are at or above construction costs. Otherwise, the supply curve is highly inelastic. Housing can be built rather quickly, but since housing is a durable good, old housing does not disappear quickly. Thus, house prices in slow or negative demand growth markets are capped by construction costs. Price construction cost ratio and price building cost ratio are methods that is falls in under this method.

The last approach by Mayer (2011) is to utilize a combination of house price affordability to derive an equilibrium model. Often house prices are compared to income (income is used as proxy variable for affordability). If house prices are too high, households cannot afford the same level of housing services (affordability). Symmetrically, when house prices are low, households may afford a higher level of housing services. Price income ratio, price wage ratio, price household income ratio are examples of this method. There also exist a set of different affordability measures and indexes that looks at the development in interest payments to income or the cost of the mortgage to income. In addition to using house price equilibrium based on economic measures, there are also possible to use statistical techniques to identifying the long-term price trend, for example HP-filter.

Shiller's bubble checklist (2010)

 * 1) Sharp increases in the price of an asset like real estate or shares
 * 2) Great public excitement about said increases
 * 3) An accompanying media frenzy
 * 4) Stories of people earning much money, causing envy among people who are not
 * 5) Growing interest in asset class among the general public
 * 6) "New era" theories to justify unprecedented price increases
 * 7) A decline in lending standards

Lind's housing bubble indicator groups (2009)

 * 1) Interest payments in relation to income for homebuyers
 * 2) Nominal interest payments in relation to income have been increasing.
 * 3) Nominal interest payment in relation to income would have been increasing if historical interest rate levels were applied.
 * 4) Real interest payments in relation to income have been increasing.
 * 5) Real interest payments in relation to income would have been increasing if historical interest rate levels were applied.
 * 6) Housing supply
 * 7) The easier it is to increase supply, the more likely is the increased price a part of a bubble
 * 8) Buyer expectations about prices
 * 9) Buyers expect prices to continue to rise or to stabilize on a level that is much higher than historical trends.
 * 10) Buyers believe that even in a median term perspective (three to five years) investing in housing is almost risk‐free.
 * 11) Buyers risk‐taking and impatience
 * 12) People are entering ownership at an earlier age or at a higher quality level.
 * 13) Buyers tend to choose riskier financing alternatives than earlier.
 * 14) Buyers are amortizing less than earlier.
 * 15) Bank behavior
 * 16) Banks are increasing or at least not decreasing loan to value ratios for buyers on the housing market when prices increase.
 * 17) Banks become more liberal when judging the credit worthiness of households.
 * 18) Speculative behavior
 * 19) A larger share of home‐buyers than usual are planning to sell rather quickly again.

Other housing bubble indicators

 * Housing prices vs. vacancy rate. A large number of vacancies will have a downward pressure on prices, since in this case; supply exceeds demand (Geltner, Miller, Clayton, & Eichholtz, 2007). Alternatively the opposite: occupancy rate.
 * Real housing prices vs. demography. If there is a net inflow of tenants the cost of dwelling can be expected to increase (Englund, 2011).
 * Housing prices vs. GDP can be used if data on income is unavailable, since changes in GDP and income can be expected to correlate (Claussen, Jonsson, & Lagerwall, 2011).
 * The loan to value ratio (LTV) is a good indicator for the risk involved for the lender as well as for the borrower. The higher the ratio the higher is the risk (Kokko, 1999).
 * The debt service ratio or debt coverage ratio (DSCR), i.e. the ratio of funds available for the payment of interest and principal. This is considered a good indicator for the level of risk involved (Joshi, 2006).
 * The ratio between loan and disposable income should not change over time. An increase above the long term average indicates that the market may be overvalued (Finocchinaro, Nilsson, Nyberg, & Soultanaeva, 2011).
 * Housing prices vs. interest rates. If interest rates increase it will be more expensive to own a piece of real estate and to compensate for the higher user cost it can be expected that the price will drop. (Englund, 2011).
 * High and increasing house price growth. Oust and Hrafnkelsson (2017)

Large housing bubbles in OECD countries 1970–2015
The table is from Oust and Hrafnkelsson (2017) and has been constructed using their bubble definition. The dataset consists of quarterly real prices for 20 OECD countries from 1970 to 2015. Duration is the number of quarters since the last turning point (or from the start of the data series). Aggregated price change is the aggregate price change for the duration. *The aggregated price change is from the start of the period to the peak.

Small housing bubbles in OECD countries 1970–2015
The table is from Oust and Hrafnkelsson (2017) and has been constructed using their bubble definition. The dataset consists of quarterly real prices for 20 OECD countries from 1970–2015. Duration is the number of quarters since the last turning point (or from the start of the data series). Aggregated price change is the aggregate price change for the duration. * The aggregated price change is from the start of the period to the peak.

title: Housing bubble


text:
Battle of Concepción

The battle of Concepción was fought on October 28, 1835, between Mexican troops under Colonel Domingo Ugartechea and Texian insurgents led by James Bowie and James Fannin. The 30-minute engagement, which historian J. R. Edmondson describes as "the first major engagement of the Texas Revolution", occurred on the grounds of Mission Concepción, 2 mi south of what is now Downtown San Antonio in the U.S. state of Texas.

On October 13, the newly created Texian Army under Stephen F. Austin had marched towards Bexar, where General Martín Perfecto de Cos commanded the remaining Mexican soldiers in Texas. On October 27, Austin sent Bowie and Fannin, with 90 soldiers, to find a defensible spot near Bexar for the Texian Army to rest. After choosing a site near Mission Concepción, the scouting party camped for the night and sent a courier to notify Austin. After learning that the Texian Army was divided, Cos sent Ugartechea with 275 soldiers to attack the Texians camped at Concepción. The Texians took cover in a horseshoe-shaped gully; their good defensive position helped them to repel several Mexican attacks, and the Mexican soldiers retreated just 30 minutes before the remainder of the Texian Army arrived. Historians estimate that between 14 and 76 Mexican soldiers were killed, while only one Texian soldier died.

Background
The newly organized Texian Army, determined to put a decisive end to Mexican control over Texas, began marching towards San Antonio de Bexar on October 13, 1835. Days earlier, General Martín Perfecto de Cos, brother-in-law of the Mexican president, had arrived in Bexar to take command of all the Mexican forces in Texas. By October 20 the Texians—led by Stephen F. Austin, the first empresario to bring English-speaking settlers to Texas —had reached Salado Creek and initiated a siege of Béxar. To keep the Texians from examining Mexican defensive measures, Mexican troops attempted to restrict access to and from the city. Despite those efforts, several people were able to leave their homes and join the Texians. Among those was James Bowie, who was well known for his fighting prowess; stories of his exploits in the Sandbar Fight and his search for the lost San Saba mine had been widely reported.

On October 22, Austin named Bowie a colonel and gave him joint command of the 1st Battalion with Captain James W. Fannin. Before nightfall the 1st Battalion began a reconnaissance mission to evaluate the former missions around San Antonio as potential campsites. Locals familiar with the area, Juan Seguín and his Texians, would guide the men along the river. After investigating three of the missions, Bowie and Fannin selected Mission San Francisco de la Espada as the most promising campsite. The rest of the Texian Army joined them there early

Prelude
Bowie and Fannin were accompanied by ninety soldiers, divided into four companies led by Captains Andrew Briscoe, Robert Coleman, Michael Goheen, and Valentine Bennet. The group took a northerly route, following the San Antonio River past Missions San Juan and San José. Along the way they encountered a small party of Mexican scouts, who retreated to Bexar after a brief skirmish.

Approximately 2 mi from San Antonio de Bexar and 6 mi from the Texian camp at Espada, the Texian scouting party stopped at Mission Concepción. 500 yd west of the mission, the San Antonio River curved in a small horseshoe shape, with the two sides of the river's curve approximately 100 yd apart. According to historian Alwyn Barr, "trees shaded both sides of the broad river bottom which lay about six feet below the level of the rolling praire [sic] nearby". Rather than return immediately to Austin, as their orders specified, Bowie and Fannin instead sent a courier to bring Austin directions to Concepción. The next day, an angry Austin issued a statement threatening officers who chose not to follow orders with court-martial.

The Texian scouting party divided into two camps. Fannin supervised 49 men at the south part of the horseshoe bend, while Bowie and the remaining men camped at the northern part of the bend. Any Mexican force coming from the north would be caught in their cross-fire. Pickets were stationed around the area and in the mission tower, which offered greater visibility. As they settled down for the evening, the Texians were surprised to see a Mexican cannonball, fired from one of the church towers in Bexar, hit just beyond their camp. Many of the Texian soldiers believed that a priest from the mission had informed the Mexican Army of their position.

Battle
Hoping to neutralize the Texian force at Concepción before the remainder of the Texian Army arrived, Cos ordered Colonel Domingo Ugartechea to lead an early-morning assault on October 28. At 6:00 a.m., Ugartechea left Bexar with 275 Mexican soldiers and 2 cannons. Heavy fog delayed their approach, and the Mexican soldiers did not reach Concepción until 14:00 or 8:00 a.m. A Mexican cavalry scout fired at Texian picket Henry Karnes; after returning fire, Karnes ran back to his company, frustrated because, as he put it, "Boys, the scoundrels have shot off my powder horn". The Texians took refuge in the gully, firing from its edge before dropping the 6 ft down to the river level to reload. As the remaining Texian sentries hurried to join the main body of Texian soldiers, Pen Jarvis was struck by a Mexican bullet and fell down the river bank. The bullet hit a knife Jarvis had slipped through the front of his belt, and he suffered only bruises.

The Texian position was surrounded by trees, leaving the Mexican cavalry no room to maneuver. The 200 members of the cavalry remained on the west bank of the river, behind the Texians, to foil any escape attempts. Lieutenant Colonel José Maria Mendosa brought the Mexican infantry and artillery across the river to a position below that of the Texians. In response, Texians trimmed undergrowth near their camp to provide better visibility and dug steps into the embankment so that they could more easily climb up to fire. The two sides skirmished desultorily for two hours, until the fog began to lift. At that point, 50–60 Mexican infantrymen crossed the prairie to surround the Texians. Seeing their approach, Bowie shouted to his Texian forces, "Keep under cover, boys, and reserve your fire; we haven't a man to spare!" At 300 yd from the Texian position, the Mexican infantry halted and formed a line with the cannon in the middle. They began firing as they advanced toward the Texian positions, to little effect. For the most part, the Mexican volleys passed over the heads of the Texians. According to Texian Noah Smithwick, "grapeshot and canister thrashed through the pecan trees overhead, raining a shower of ripe nuts down on us, and I saw men picking them up and eating them with as little concern as if they were being shaken down by a norther." In his official report to Austin, Bowie remarked that "The discharge from the enemy was one continued blaze of fire, whilst that from our lines, was more slowly delivered, but with good aim and deadly effect."

When Mexican officers ordered a charge on the south bend held by Fannin, Bowie sent Coleman's company to help. Most of the Texian reinforcements maneuvered to their new position from below the river bank, but several rose from cover and dashed across the prairie. One of them, Richard Andrews, was hit in the side with grapeshot and died several hours after the battle.

As the reinforcements reached the southern part of the horseshoe, the Mexican infantry fell back, leaving the cannon within 100 yd of the Texians. Texians redirected their fire to the cannoneers. After three different sets of gunners were killed or wounded, the cannons were abandoned. The Mexican infantry attempted three attacks; all were repulsed. As the Mexican buglers called for a retreat, the infantry fell back beyond Texian rifle range. The Mexican cavalry was sent to retrieve wounded men and the cannon. As the cavalry approached, Bowie led a charge onto the prairie. The Texians quickly captured the cannon and turned it on the fleeing Mexican soldiers. Grapeshot killed one of the mule drivers, causing his caisson to go out of control and "careen[...] through the shattered Mexican ranks". The battle had lasted only 30 minutes.

Aftermath
Austin had intended to reunite the two parts of his army early on October 28, but the group camping at Mission Espada had delayed their departure to unsuccessfully pursue a company that had deserted. Lieutenant Colonel William Barret Travis and his company of cavalry rode ahead of the main body of the army. When they reached Concepción, the Mexican Army was still visible in the distance. The small band of Texian cavalry pursued but the Mexican soldiers reached Bexar safely.

Less than 30 minutes after the battle ended, the rest of the Texian Army arrived. Austin felt that the Mexican morale must be low after their defeat and wanted to proceed immediately to Bexar. Bowie and other officers refused, as they believed Bexar was too heavily fortified. The Texians searched the area for any Mexican equipment which had been abandoned during the retreat. They found several boxes of cartridges. Complaining that the Mexican powder was "little better than pounded charcoal", the Texians emptied the cartridges but kept the bullets.

That evening, Austin allowed a local priest and men from Bexar to retrieve the bodies of the Mexican soldiers who had died in battle. Barr estimated that at least 14 Mexican soldiers were killed, with an additional 39 wounded, several of whom died later. Timothy Todish et al., in their book The Alamo Sourcebook, estimated that 60 Mexican soldiers were killed, while historian Stephen Hardin claimed that 76 Mexican soldiers died. The only Texian to die in battle was Andrews, and Jarvis was the only Texian classified as wounded.

This battle, which historian J. R. Edmondson describes as "the first major engagement of the Texas Revolution", was the last offensive against the Texians that Cos would order. Barr attributed the Texian victory to "able leadership, a strong position, and greater firepower". The Mexican cavalry was unable to fight effectively in the wooded, riverbottom terrain, and the weapons of the Mexican infantry had a much lower range than that of the Texians. Although Barr continues that the battle "should have taught ... lessons on Mexican courage and the value of a good defensive position", Hardin believes that "the relative ease of the victory at Concepción instilled in the Texians a reliance on their long rifles and a contempt for their enemies". A soldier who later served under Fannin complained that Fannin's "former experience in fighting Mexicans [at Concepción] had led him to neglect to take such precautionary measures as were requisite", which may have contributed to his defeat at the Battle of Coleto in March 1836.

In 2023, historical researchers used a computer program that found that the battle site may have occurred about 2,000 feet north of Concepción park, where the marker of where the battle took place is located. Musket balls and other artifacts have been found in the area but a specific site of the conflict is not yet archaeologically certain.

title: Battle of Concepción


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John Elferink

Johan Wessel Elferink (born 24 September 1965) is an Australian politician. He is a former member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly for the Country Liberal Party.

Early life
Elferink was born in the Netherlands and moved to Australia with his parents and older siblings as a three-year-old in 1968. His family settled in Darwin, and he subsequently graduated from Casuarina High School.

In 1983, Elferink joined the Northern Territory Police as a cadet. He subsequently rose to the rank of Sergeant (Qualified to Senior Sergeant), and served in both Darwin and Alice Springs. Elferink's career in the NT Police Force was not without incident. In an article in the NT News, he admitted turning up to work so drunk he couldn't fill in routine forms and to crawling round the Darwin Casino roof space.

While in the police force, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Monash University in 1997, completing the course by distance education. In 2008 Elferink graduated with a Bachelor of Laws from the University of New England. He was admitted to the bar in October 2009.

Political career
In 1997, Elferink won Country Liberal preselection for the rural electorate of MacDonnell after incumbent Labor member Neil Bell announced his retirement. On paper, Elferink faced daunting odds; the ALP held the seat with a majority of 16 points. However, the ALP preselected union organiser Mark Wheeler, thus prompting indigenous leader Kenneth Lechleitner to run as an independent and direct his preferences to the CLP. Elferink picked up enough of Leichleitner's preferences to take the seat on a swing of 18.7 percent. Although a redistribution ahead of the 2001 election erased Elferink's majority and made Macdonnell a notional Labor seat, Elferink was re-elected even as a massive swing to Labor across the Territory allowed it to win government for the first time. He served in the Shadow Ministry under Opposition Leaders Denis Burke and Terry Mills.

 * }

Elferink became an increasingly prominent member of the shadow ministry during his first two years in a portfolio. However, by early 2003, Elferink became increasingly frustrated with Burke's leadership who was struggling to maintain his grip on the party at the time. In June 2003, Elferink resigned as Shadow Minister for Local Government and Indigenous Affairs and publicly slammed Burke's leadership, labelling him "arrogant" and calling for him to be replaced by rival Mills.

He later returned to the shadow ministry in September, taking on the portfolio of Police, Fire and Emergency Services.

By late 2004, Elferink was once again becoming a key member of the parliamentary party, and this was reflected when, on 12 October, he was made Opposition Whip. Elferink was subsequently rewarded for this support, being made Leader of Opposition Business and Shadow Minister for Community Development, Housing, Local Government, Sport and Recreation, Regional Development and Indigenous Affairs, while maintaining the position of Whip. Elferink stood for re-election at the 2005 election. However, facing star candidate and indigenous activist Alison Anderson, Elferink was heavily defeated, suffering a two-party swing of 20.6 percent. He later served as party director for the CLP.

In the years between his occupation of a seat in parliament, Elferink occasionally worked for the Centre for Democratic Institutions in the Pacific on a number of occasions. Working to help improve the democracies of Fiji and the Solomon Islands.

Elferink contested the seat of Port Darwin at 9 August 2008 Legislative Assembly general election, and defeated Labor Party incumbent Kerry Sacilotto. In opposition, he held the Shadow portfolios of Shadow Treasurer, Shadow Minister for Public Employment, Shadow Minister for Essential Services as well as being the Leader of Opposition Business in the Territory Assembly.

When the CLP won the 2012 Northern Territory election, Elferink was made a minister in the Mills Ministry: Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, and Minister for Correctional Services. On 6 March, he was given the additional portfolios of Treasurer and Corporate and Information Services. For two years, he served in cabinet alongside Anderson, who crossed the floor to the CLP in 2011, but was dropped from the cabinet in 2013.

Elferink had courted controversy on a number of occasions with his hands on approach to involving himself in domestic violence occurrences being facetiously labelled "Captain Justice", by local press because of his propensity to personally intervene in domestic violence incidents when they occurred, on one occasion being assaulted himself in defence of domestic violence victim.

As Attorney General Elferink also embarked on an ambitious campaign of court reform in the Territory culminating in the abolition of the Magistrates Court and the effective introduction of a three tier court system in the Northern Territory giving quazi-judicial powers to the NT Civil Appeals Tribunal. These steps were welcomed by few in the legal fraternity of the Northern Territory. Further reforms included the construction of the new Supreme Court Building in Alice Springs and the introduction of the Children's Court in Darwin.

Further components of Elferink's Attorney Generalship included his personal drafting of the Pillars of Justice reform package. These changes were the most fundamental shake up of the Department of Justice and Attorney General since self-government, putting the structures in place that were necessary to form the basis of the future course of the justice system in the Northern Territory.

Elferink also introduced "No Body No Parole" laws in the NT, which prevents a convicted murderer from receiving parole when that murderer refused to identify the location of the body to authorities. An example of this in the Northern Territory was Bradley John Murdoch, who had been convicted of the murder of Peter Falconio but never revealed the location of the body.

Elferink also introduced controversial 'paperless arrest' laws that saw a substantial fall in the number of assaults occurring in the Darwin CBD. The laws were challenged in the High Court of Australia with the court ruling that the laws were not punitive in nature and were lawful. Throughout his time in parliament Elferink remained a strident critic of passive welfare and its effects. The paperless arrest system was in part a response to the negative impact and overwhelming anti-social behaviour which plagued the Northern Territory.

As Health Minister Elferink was tasked with commencing the long delayed Palmerston Hospital. Shortly after taking the portfolio Elferink had brought the Territory Government to a position where the Hospital was commenced under Elferink's stewardship.

Mental Health issues also were of deep concern to Elferink who took a number of steps to improve mental health services in the Northern Territory including the jurisdictions first mental health ward for juveniles. The court system was also supported with the addition of mental health workers as Court Clinicians. Elferink drove the introduction of the Northern Territory's first suicide action plan in an effort to reduce the Territory's tragically high suicide rate.

After supporting Willem Westra van Holthe's attempted party-room coup against Giles on 2 February, Elferink was named deputy leader of the CLP, putting him on track to become Deputy Chief Minister. This challenge was brought undone less than a day later, but Elferink remained in cabinet.

On 18 November 2015, Elferink announced that he would retire at the next election to be held in August 2016.

After announcing his retirement Elferink continued to pursue development for the NT in the surprising area of satellite launching capability with an Australian investor who wanted to buy the Sea Launch facility at Long Beach and bring it to Darwin. Elferink led the Northern Territory Government's mission in the negotiation processes.

Elferink's reforms include introducing the Northern Territory Corrections Industry banner and the Sentenced to a Job program that saw prisoners trained and skilled ready for the work place which they entered while still serving time. Chief Minister Adam Giles subsequently stated Elferink's role in prison reform should be applauded.

On 25 July 2016, footage of abuse to children as young as 13 years old within Darwin's Don Dale Youth Corrections Centre was aired in a Four Corners exclusive on the ABC. When Elferink was asked about the incidents by Four Corners journalists, he stated, in relation to the boy in the footage, Dylan Voller, that "Where there has even been a suggestion of criminality we've looked at it. Unfortunately these kids come into the system, these juveniles come into the system pre-broken and we have to cope with them, particularly when they are violent." The release of the footage resulted in the appointment of the Royal Commission into Juvenile Detention in the Northern Territory and the dismissal of Elferink as Corrections Minister on 26 July. He nevertheless retained all his other portfolios.

Subsequent to Elferink's removal from the role, Chief Minister Adam Giles described his decision to remove him as the "...wrong decision..." citing Elferink's hard work in the corrections field and accusing the ABC's Four Corners program of bias.

As a result of the Royal Commission no criminal charges were brought to bear against any individual. Elferink's criticism of the ABC's 4 Corners program became more pointed as a result as 4 Corners had alleged torture and barbarism. “We have acted and always acted when in government with absolute probity, something 4 Corners had explained to them at length, something they chose not to run with and as a consequence they put out a story saying that we tortured children, that we acted with barbarism in our hearts and it made comparisons to Abu Ghraib,” Mr Elferink said. “All of those things are indictable offences, none of that was found to be true.”

Elferink had ordered that Don Dale be shut down in 2014 and detainees were moved into a new facility. This was a direct response to the Vita review and incidents in the Don Dale facility. Elferink publicly released the Vita review without any legal demand that he do so in the interest of full disclosure. In 2013 Elferink had also attempted to introduce international inspectors into the Northern Territory Corrections system by introducing legislation to ratify OPCAT (Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture). In 2016 he was forced to withdraw the bill from the House as the Federal Parliament had failed to ratify their part of the arrangement.

In October 2018 the Parole Board of the NT reported Elferink's reform programs continued to bear fruit. The COMMIT program which Elferink championed and drove was recognised by the Parole Board of the NT as being a significant contributor to prisoner rehabilitation in the NT.

Throughout his political career Elferink remained open about the sexual abuse he'd suffered as a child. He always maintained his openness because he wanted to show people that a fully productive life was possible in spite of the challenges that people had to cope with from childhood. Elferink maintained the belief that waiting for perpetrator to apologise was to give that perpetrator ongoing power. "The moment you say to another person, 'I cannot be happy or complete until you apologise', you have given away your ability to be happy and handed it to a third party." he said.

More controversy
In 2015 Mr Elferink, then NT Attorney-General, reportedly told a Labor politician during a parliamentary debate he was "really tempted to give her a slap right now, figuratively speaking,". Mr Elferink apologised for his reaction saying the comment was "unwise" and only expressed it in the figurative sense meaning a rebuke.

Post Politics
After politics, John Elferink moved to Adelaide in South Australia. There he established the Sabre Foundation to assist victims of sexual assault to pursue offenders using civil redress processes as well as a lawyer at Jones Elferink Barristers and Solicitors. He also lectures at the Indian Institute of Management (Rohtak) as a visiting lecturer in Labor Economics. He also works with the South Australian Dairyfarmers' Association (SADA) as a Policy Advisor while managing the SADA Fresh milk brand and industry fund on behalf of SADA.

Personal
Elferink is married to Dee Elferink and has two daughters Eleanor and Gwenevere. He enjoys riding his Royal Enfield motorbike in his leisure time.

title: John Elferink


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Real-estate bubble

A real-estate bubble or property bubble (or housing bubble for residential markets) is a type of economic bubble that occurs periodically in local or global real estate markets, and it typically follows a land boom. A land boom is a rapid increase in the market price of real property such as housing until they reach unsustainable levels and then declines. This period, during the run-up to the crash, is also known as froth. The questions of whether real estate bubbles can be identified and prevented, and whether they have broader macroeconomic significance, are answered differently by schools of economic thought, as detailed below.

Bubbles in housing markets are more critical than stock market bubbles. Historically, equity price busts occur on average every 13 years, last for 2.5 years, and result in about a 4 percent loss in GDP. Housing price busts are less frequent, but last nearly twice as long and lead to output losses that are twice as large (IMF World Economic Outlook, 2003). A recent laboratory experimental study also shows that, compared to financial markets, real estate markets involve more extended boom and bust periods. Prices decline slower because the real estate market is less liquid.

The financial crisis of 2007–2008 was caused by the bursting of real estate bubbles that had begun in various countries during the 2000s.

Identification and prevention

As with all types of economic bubbles, disagreement exists over whether or not a real estate bubble can be identified or predicted, then perhaps prevented. Speculative bubbles are persistent, systematic and increasing deviations of actual prices from their fundamental values. Real estate bubbles can be difficult to identify even as they are occurring, due to the difficulty of discerning the intrinsic value of real estate. As with other medium and long range economic trends, accurate prediction of future bubbles has proven difficult.

In real estate, fundamentals can be estimated from rental yields (where real estate is then considered in a similar vein to stocks and other financial assets) or based on a regression of actual prices on a set of demand and/or supply variables.

American economist Robert Shiller of the Case–Shiller Home Price Index of home prices in 20 metro cities across the United States indicated on May 31, 2011 that a "Home Price Double Dip [is] Confirmed" and British magazine The Economist, argue that housing market indicators can be used to identify real estate bubbles. Some argue further that governments and central banks can and should take action to prevent bubbles from forming, or to deflate existing bubbles.

A land value tax (LVT) can be introduced to prevent speculation on land. Real estate bubbles direct savings towards rent seeking activities rather than other investments. A land value tax removes financial incentives to hold unused land solely for price appreciation, making more land available for productive uses. At sufficiently high levels, land value tax would cause real estate prices to fall by removing land rents that would otherwise become 'capitalized' into the price of real estate. It also encourages landowners to sell or relinquish titles to locations they are not using, thus preventing speculators from hoarding unused land.

Macroeconomic significance
Within some schools of heterodox economics, by contrast, real estate bubbles are considered of critical importance and a fundamental cause of financial crises and ensuing economic crises.

The pre-dominating economic perspective is that increases in housing prices result in little or no wealth effect, namely it does not affect the consumption behavior of households not looking to sell. The house price becoming compensation for the higher implicit rent costs for owning. Increasing house prices can have a negative effect on consumption through increased rent inflation and a higher propensity to save given expected rent increase.

In some schools of heterodox economics, notably Austrian economics and Post-Keynesian economics, real estate bubbles are seen as an example of credit bubbles (pejoratively speculative bubbles), because property owners generally use borrowed money to purchase property, in the form of mortgages. These are then argued to cause financial and hence economic crises. This is first argued empirically – numerous real estate bubbles have been followed by economic slumps, and it is argued that there is a cause-effect relationship between these.

The Post-Keynesian theory of debt deflation takes a demand-side view, arguing that property owners not only feel richer but borrow to (i) consume against the increased value of their property – by taking out a home equity line of credit, for instance; or (ii) speculate by buying property with borrowed money in the expectation that it will rise in value. When the bubble bursts, the value of the property decreases but not the level of debt. The burden of repaying or defaulting on the loan depresses aggregate demand, it is argued, and constitutes the proximate cause of the subsequent economic slump.

Housing market indicators

In attempting to identify bubbles before they burst, economists have developed a number of financial ratios and economic indicators that can be used to evaluate whether homes in a given area are fairly valued. By comparing current levels to previous levels that have proven unsustainable in the past (i.e. led to or at least accompanied crashes), one can make an educated guess as to whether a given real estate market is experiencing a bubble. Indicators describe two interwoven aspects of housing bubble: a valuation component and a debt (or leverage) component. The valuation component measures how expensive houses are relative to what most people can afford, and the debt component measures how indebted households become in buying them for home or profit (and also how much exposure the banks accumulate by lending for them). A basic summary of the progress of housing indicators for U.S. cities is provided by Business Week. See also: real estate economics and real estate trends.

Housing affordability measures

 * The price to income ratio is the basic affordability measure for housing in a given area. It is generally the ratio of median house prices to median familial disposable incomes, expressed as a percentage or as years of income. It is sometimes compiled separately for first-time buyers and termed attainability. This ratio, applied to individuals, is a basic component of mortgage lending decisions. According to a back-of-the-envelope calculation by Goldman Sachs, a comparison of median home prices to median household income suggests that U.S. housing in 2005 was overvalued by 10%. "However, this estimate is based on an average mortgage rate of about 6%, and we expect rates to rise", the firm's economics team wrote in a recent report. According to Goldman's figures, a one-percentage-point rise in mortgage rates would reduce the fair value of home prices by 8%.
 * The deposit to income ratio is the minimum required downpayment for a typical mortgage, expressed in months or years of income. It is especially important for first-time buyers without existing home equity; if the down payment becomes too high then those buyers may find themselves "priced out" of the market. For example, this ratio was equal to one year of income in the UK. Another variant is what the United States's National Association of Realtors calls the "housing affordability index" in its publications. (The soundness of the NAR's methodology was questioned by some analysts as it does not account for inflation. ).
 * The affordability index measures the ratio of the actual monthly cost of the mortgage to take-home income. It is used more in the United Kingdom where nearly all mortgages are variable and pegged to bank lending rates. It offers a much more realistic measure of the ability of households to afford housing than the crude price to income ratio. However it is more difficult to calculate, and hence the price-to-income ratio is still more commonly used by pundits. In recent years, lending practices have relaxed, allowing greater multiples of income to be borrowed.
 * The median multiple measures the ratio of the median house price to the median annual household income. This measure has historically hovered around a value of 3.0 or less, but in recent years has risen dramatically, especially in markets with severe public policy constraints on land and development.

Housing debt measures

 * The housing debt to income ratio or debt-service ratio is the ratio of mortgage payments to disposable income. When the ratio gets too high, households become increasingly dependent on rising property values to service their debt. A variant of this indicator measures total home ownership costs, including mortgage payments, utilities and property taxes, as a percentage of a typical household's monthly pre-tax income; for example see RBC Economics' reports for the Canadian markets.
 * The housing debt to equity ratio (not to be confused with the corporate debt to equity ratio), also called loan to value, is the ratio of the mortgage debt to the value of the underlying property; it measures financial leverage. This ratio increases when the homeowner takes a second mortgage or home equity loan using the accumulated equity as collateral. A ratio greater than 1 implies that owner's equity is negative.

Housing ownership and rent measures

 * Bubbles can be determined when an increase in housing prices is higher than the rise in rents. In the US, rent between 1984 and 2013 has risen steadily at about 3% per year, whereas between 1997 and 2002 housing prices rose 6% per year. Between 2011 and the third quarter of 2013, housing prices rose 5.83% and rent increased 2%.
 * The ownership ratio is the proportion of households who own their homes as opposed to renting. It tends to rise steadily with incomes. Also, governments often enact measures such as tax cuts or subsidized financing to encourage and facilitate home ownership. If a rise in ownership is not supported by a rise in incomes, it can mean either that buyers are taking advantage of low interest rates (which must eventually rise again as the economy heats up) or that home loans are awarded more liberally, to borrowers with poor credit. Therefore, a high ownership ratio combined with an increased rate of subprime lending may signal higher debt levels associated with bubbles.
 * The price-to-earnings ratio or P/E ratio is the common metric used to assess the relative valuation of equities. To compute the P/E ratio for the case of a rented house, divide the price of the house by its potential earnings or net income, which is the market annual rent of the house minus expenses, which include maintenance and property taxes. This formula is:
 * $$\mbox{House P/E ratio} = \frac{\mbox{House price}}{\mbox{Rent} - \mbox{Expenses}}$$
 * The house price-to-earnings ratio provides a direct comparison with P/E ratios utilised to analyze other uses of the money tied up in a home. Compare this ratio to the simpler but less accurate price-rent ratio below.

 * The price-rent ratio is the average cost of ownership divided by the received rent income (if buying to let) or the estimated rent (if buying to reside):
 * $$\mbox{House Price-Rent ratio} = \frac{\mbox{House price}}{\mbox{Monthly Rent} \times 12}$$
 * The latter is often measured using the "owner's equivalent rent" numbers published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It can be viewed as the real estate equivalent of stocks' price-earnings ratio; in other terms it measures how much the buyer is paying for each dollar of received rent income (or dollar saved from rent spending). Rents, just like corporate and personal incomes, are generally tied very closely to supply and demand fundamentals; one rarely sees an unsustainable "rent bubble" (or "income bubble" for that matter). Therefore a rapid increase of home prices combined with a flat renting market can signal the onset of a bubble. The U.S. price-rent ratio was 18% higher than its long-run average as of October 2004.

 * The gross rental yield, a measure used in the United Kingdom, is the total yearly gross rent divided by the house price and expressed as a percentage:
 * $$\mbox{Gross Rental Yield} = \frac{\mbox{Monthly rent} \times 12}{\mbox{House price}} \times 100\%$$
 * This is the reciprocal of the house price-rent ratio. The net rental yield deducts the landlord's expenses (and sometimes estimated rental voids) from the gross rent before doing the above calculation; this is the reciprocal of the house P/E ratio.
 * Because rents are received throughout the year rather than at its end, both the gross and net rental yields calculated by the above are somewhat less than the true rental yields obtained when taking into account the monthly nature of rental payments.

 * The occupancy rate (opposite: vacancy rate) is the number of occupied housing units divided by the total number of units in a given region (in commercial real estate, usually expressed in terms of area (i.e. in square metres, acres, et cetera) for different grades of buildings). A low occupancy rate means that the market is in a state of oversupply brought about by speculative construction and purchase. In this context, supply-and-demand numbers can be misleading: sales demand exceeds supply, but rent demand does not.

Housing price indices

Measures of house price are also used in identifying housing bubbles; these are known as house price indices (HPIs).

A noted series of HPIs for the United States are the Case–Shiller indices, devised by American economists Karl Case, Robert J. Shiller, and Allan Weiss. As measured by the Case–Shiller index, the US experienced a housing bubble peaking in the second quarter of 2006 (2006 Q2).

From end of cold war to 2008 Great Recession
The crash of the Japanese asset price bubble from 1990 on has been very damaging to the Japanese economy. The crash in 2005 affected Shanghai, China's largest city.

, real estate bubbles had existed in the recent past or were widely believed to still exist in many parts of the world. including Argentina, New Zealand, Ireland, Spain, Lebanon, Poland, and Croatia. Then U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said in mid-2005 that "at a minimum, there's a little 'froth' (in the U.S. housing market) … it's hard not to see that there are a lot of local bubbles." The Economist magazine, writing at the same time, went further, saying "the worldwide rise in house prices is the biggest bubble in history".

In France, the economist Jacques Friggit publishes each year a study called "Evolution of the price, value and number of property sales in France since the 19th century", showing a high price increase since 2001. Yet, the existence of a real estate bubble in France is discussed by economists. Real estate bubbles are invariably followed by severe price decreases (also known as a house price crash) that can result in many owners holding mortgages that exceed the value of their homes. 11.1 million residential properties, or 23.1% of all U.S. homes, were in negative equity at December 31, 2010. Commercial property values remained around 35% below their mid-2007 peak in the United Kingdom. As a result, banks have become less willing to hold large amounts of property-backed debt, likely a key issue affecting the worldwide recovery in the short term.

By 2006, most areas of the world were thought to be in a bubble state, although this hypothesis, based upon the observation of similar patterns in real estate markets of a wide variety of countries, was subject to controversy. Such patterns include those of overvaluation and, by extension, excessive borrowing based on those overvaluations. The U.S. subprime mortgage crisis of 2007–2010, alongside its impacts and effects on economies in various nations, has implied that these trends might have some common characteristics.

For individual countries, see:
 * Baltic states housing bubble
 * British property bubble
 * Canadian property bubble
 * Chinese property bubble – 2005–2011
 * Danish property bubble – 2001–2006
 * Irish property bubble – 1999–2006
 * Japanese asset price bubble – 1986–1991
 * Lebanese property bubble
 * Polish property bubble – 2002–2008
 * Romanian property bubble
 * Spanish property bubble – 1985–2008, 2008-2014
 * United States housing bubble – 1997–2006

From 2008 Great Recession to now

 * Australian property bubble
 * British property bubble
 * Canadian property bubble
 * New Zealand property bubble

US real estate bubble 2012–present
The Washington Post writer Lisa Sturtevant thinks that her audience will buy articles telling them that the housing market of 2013 was not indicative of a housing bubble. "A critical difference between the current market and the overheated market of the middle of last decade is the nature of the mortgage market. Stricter underwriting standards have limited the pool of potential homebuyers to those who are most qualified and most likely to be able to pay loans back. The demand this time is based more closely on market fundamentals. And the price growth we’ve experienced recently is 'real.' Or 'more real.'" Other recent research indicates that mid-level managers in securitized finance did not exhibit awareness of problems in overall housing markets.

Economist David Stockman believes that a second housing bubble was started in 2012 and still inflating as of February 2013. Housing inventory began to dwindle starting in early 2012 as hedge fund investors and private equity firms purchase single-family homes in hopes of renting them out while waiting for a housing rebound. Due to the policies of QE3, mortgage interest rates have been hovering at an all-time low, causing real estate values to rise. Home prices have risen unnaturally as much as 25% within one year in metropolitan areas like the San Francisco Bay Area and Las Vegas.

Eurozone real estate bubble COVID Pandemic
House prices in the Eurozone increased dramatically during the COVID pandemic.

As an example, in Prague, a person would need 17.3 years of salary to buy a 70 sqm flat.

title: Real-estate bubble


text:
Redwood Castle

Redwood Castle (also known as Egan Castle or Caisleán Choillte Rua in Irish) is a Norman castle near Lorrha in County Tipperary, Ireland.

The castle was built by the Normans around 1200 AD, and was occupied by them until c. 1350, when the Mac Aodhagáin (MacEgan, Egan, Keegan) were installed on the lands.

As hereditary Brehons or lawyers, the Mac Aodhagáin clan established a school of learning here, which was patronised by the family for several hundred years.

The castle was enlarged and renovated several times, with considerable work from 1350. Aside from the original thick stone walls, the building demonstrates some architectural features common to Irish fortifications of the period (including a murder-hole), and some less common features (including a Sheela na gig).

The castle remained under continuous occupation and ownership by the (Mac)Egan families until c. 1650, when it was confiscated and burned at the time of the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland.

The site remained in ruin for over 300 years, with only the thick exterior walls standing, until Michael J. Egan, a County Mayo lawyer, purchased and renovated the building in 1972. While the castle remains a private residence, terms of the Department of Finance Heritage/Cultural Tax Relief mean the castle is periodically open to the public during the summer months. It is a protected structure (ref S329) on the North Tipperary list of protected structures.

The castle hosted several "Clan Egan" rallies in 2000, 2004 and 2008.

title: Redwood Castle


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User talk:Sururdavids

Sorry but the heart of a free license such as the GFDL is that it is non-revocable. Once you hit the submit button you give up your rights to the content. It looks like the articles you are blanking will be deleted in the near future anyway so please be patient and allow the proper procedure to be followed. - SimonP 16:42, Jun 5, 2005 (UTC)

Please stop trying to blank the 'musthave software' article. We need to keep the deletion notice until the procedure is finished. Don't worry, everything will probably be deleted in a couple of days. DJ Clayworth 19:03, 5 Jun 2005 (UTC)

If you keep blanking that article I will block you from editing Wikipedia. You are warned. DJ Clayworth 19:07, 5 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Please stop removing VfD notices from pages. It's vandalizing. drini ☎ 19:26, 5 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Blocked for 24 hours by Nohat -- Cyrius|✎ 19:38, 5 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Image licencing
I've noticed that you've been uploading a number of images without providing licencing information for them (specifically Image:Looxaudioin.jpg, Image:AudioConnector.jpg, Image:Cradlespeaker.png, Image:Looxaudio.JPG, Image:Loox720.jpg). I've put "unverified" tags on them, could you please update them with specific tags from Image copyright tags and give sources for where they came from? Bryan 06:40, 6 Jun 2005 (UTC)

title: User talk:Sururdavids