Global Housing Market Update

This table from The Economist shows average house prices in Developed and Bric countries compared to their respective income and rent levels. House prices in Hong Kong, Canada and New Zealand are most overvalued. While house prices in Japan are highly undervalued. Also, the graph shows that Hong Kong saw the highest average price increase over the last year. The Netherlands had the biggest decline.

Due to a request by the Economist this graph has been removed. 

View the graph here

Projected Government Spending For Developed Countries in 2013

Denmark has the highest projected government spending as a percentage of GDP, with 58.4 percent. France and Austria also have notably high expentiture percentages, even above Noric countries Finland and Sweden. Greece doesn't have that high government spending after all with 48.3 it is around the average. Australia has the lowest government spending for the selected countries.

Banking Sector: Percentage of GDP Across the World

This chart shows the banking sector in terms of assets as a percentage of GDP forcseveral continents. What stands out, are the extremely large banking sectors in European countries.

ZeroHedge

History of EU/Euro Zone (1929-2013)

Large overview of the history of the EU and the implementation of the Euro. From the first suggestion for a common European currency in 1929 until Croatia joining the EU in the beginning of 2013.

OECD Yearly 2012 GDP Growth

More and more countries have been reporting their fourth quarter GDP growth for 2012 lately, and hence the yearly 2012 GDP growth rate. For the countries that have reported their figures China had the highest yearly growth rate of 7.8 percent. Indonesia and Norway are following China with 6.2 and 3.0 percent respectively. Yet, most countries had a growth rate of less than 2 percent, with most all European countries on the lower end. Portugal and Italy saw their economy's decline the most, in Portugal even with 3.2 percent.

Global House Price Indicators (January 2013)

The Economist posted this overview of global house price indicators in January 2013. Some points of interest:

• Hong Kong saw the biggest rise in housing prices: 22 percent compared to year ago, while Spain saw its house prices contract the most.
• Hong Kong was also the country that saw its house prices increase the most after the start of the global financial crisis in 2007, while Ireland saw the biggest correction; house prices were slashed in halve. 
• Housing markets in Canada and France are most overvalued according to rent and income measures, while those in Japan and China are quite undervalued compared to their long term average values.

The Economist

Changing Top Manufacturing Countries (1980-2010)

The developing countries have made their way more and more in the top 10 of global manufacturing countries. While you might expect China on the first spot, the United States as being the world's biggest economy is still the largest manufacturing producer. Brazil has advanced up to the sixth place. India just entered the top 10 in 2010 and Russia especially made a big jump from place 12 in 2000 to 11 in 2010.

ZeroHedge

Household Debt Versus Disposable Income (1995-2011)

This graph gives the ratio of total household debt divided by the total of disposable income of the households in countries of the Euro Area and the USA. On average the household debt to income rate was relatively stable in the Euro Area approaching the 100 percent just before the credit crisis from around 70 percent at the beginning of the Euro. The household debt to income ratio was already higher in 1999 in the USA and saw a much bigger increase, but unlike in the Euro Area the ratio has come back quite a lot already in the United States.

The average of around 100 percent currently in the Euro Area is mainly formed by the bigger economies: Germany and France, who have a ratio close to the Euro Area average. There are notable outliners, especially Denmark, The Netherlands and Ireland that have a way bigger ratio of 200 to almost 300 percent.

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Credit Ratings, U.S., Japan and Euro Zone (Oct 2012)

Thompson Reuters created this graph with the long term sovereign debt ratings for the Western countries. For the three major credit rating institutions the ratings are listed.

Thompson Reuters

Government Debt in the EU Countries (second quarter 2012)

This great graph from Reuters shows per EU country the government debt it had at the end of the second quarter, as a percentage of GDP.

Since the crisis Portugal, Ireland have been accumulating debt at a high rate, while seeing their economy shrink significantly. This is shows in the government-debt-to-GDP measure, for which they are in respectively  the third and the fourth place in having the highest government debt in the EU.

Estonia and Bulgaria have the lowest government debt in the EU.

IMF Euro Zone Inflation Forecasts to 2017 (WEO Fall 2012)

Greek inflation is slowing down tremendously, from more than 4 percent in 2010 to expected deflation in 2013 and 2014. The other countries are expected to have their inflation rates to be relatively close to the EU average. Lower in Spain and Italy and higher in Germany.

Bondvigilants

IMF Euro Zone GDP Forecasts (WEO Fall 2012)

This graph shows the latest IMF forecasts for the GDP growth rates for a number of selected countries. For most countries the next few years won't be easy, but will see GDP growth rates get out of negative territory gradually. Greece is even expected to grow by more than three percent from 2016.

Bondvigilants

IMF Euro Zone Unemployment Rate Forecasts (WEO Fall 2012)

This graph shows the unemployment rates the IMF has projected for several Euro Zone countries. Note that the institute expects the high Greek unemployment to go down faster than the high unemployment in Spain.

Bondvigiliants

Big Euro Zone Countries GDP Since 2007

The previous post showed the quarterly growth for selected countries. Here I will show a bigger picture for some Euro Zone countries: the growth or decline of the economy since 2007. As you might have expected the German economy has grown the most since 2007, although it also saw one of the biggest declines during the credit crisis. Italy saw the lowest growth of the big four in the Euro Zone, while France fared slightly better than the Euro Zone average and Spain is doing slightly worse since the credit crisis.

Reuters

Developed Countries GDP Growth (2nd Quarter 2012)

This chart show the quarterly economic growth (second quarter versus the first quarter of 2012) for the countries in the Euro Zone, compared with the United States and Japan. What is interesting is that most Euro Zone countries saw their economic growth far below the U.S. and Japan, especially Portugal and Italy. Not being in the Euro Zone is not a guarantuee for economic growth though, as you can see with the -0.7 percent contraction in the United Kingdom.

http://twitpic.com/aj9dlc

Economist Poll of Forecasters (July 2012) for 2012, 2013

This graph shows the average forecast for economic data (2012 & 2013) of the main economies in the world. Except for Australia and Japan all the average real GDP growth figures in July have been lowered since June. Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the Euro Area are expected to have a minus growth for 2012. For 2013 only Italy and Spain are expected to see it's economy contract. Italy's inflation rate is expected to stay relatively high though, while Japan and Switzerland keep having low inflation rates. Spain is expected to see it's current account deficit shrink more and more.

Due to a request by the Economist this graph has been removed. 

View the graph here

Where are the Top 500 International Companies Located?

The United States is the only country where more than 100 of the top 500 international companies are located. China is a great second, with Japan, Canada and the big three European countries following shortly. From Business Insider: 'Total revenue at the 500 gained 13.2 percent from 2010, to $29.5 trillion, while profits hit $1.6 trillion'.

Business Insider

French 10-year Bond Yield History

This graph from Bank of America shows the history of the interest rate of the French government. Besides the spike in borrowing costs during the French Revolution, what is also interesting is the continuous decline in interest rate since the 1970s.

Business Insider

Manufacturing Activity Down Around the World

This chart from The Economist compares manufacturing activity around the world for last june compared to the last two years. Most countries saw a shard decline this year, compared to last year, although less in the Emerging Markets.

Due to a request by the Economist this graph has been removed. 

View the graph here

OECD: Official Versus Effective Retirement Age

The official retirement age is rarely equal to the effective retirement age, the average age the people actually retire. As you can see in this chart the official retirement age can be both higher and lower than the effective retirement age. What is the same for all countries is that the life expectancy was raised and that (assuming an equal or declining birth rate) the work force needs to finance more elderly people. A very reasonable option to do that is by raising the effective retirement age (with the official retirement age).

Japan and Sweden had the highest effective retirement age in 2010, while Austria, France and Belgium (and not Greece) had the lowest effective retirement age.

The Economist