Beware of the property trap
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The differences between the British and German economies make for fascinating reading, and an article in the Financial Times has a good summary ("UK gets wrong kind of economic recovery").
In Germany, exports are “the chief motor of economic growth”, home ownership is much lower than in the UK and house prices have been falling for a decade.
In the UK, manufacturing accounts for only 11 per cent of GDP while property ownership obsession is damaging the structure of the economy and possibly leading to a repeat mortgage crisis.
Those in Thailand who want to inflate property values to create an illusory “cash cow” might instead be buying “a pig in a poke”.
Guy Baker
Bangkok
