An affordable sandwich in London by 2013

I'm not an avid (rabid?) Torygraph reader, but some interesting articles appearing there on UK housing and the economic beating the country's going to get as a result of its own stiff upper-lipped version of the sub-prime crisis.

1) The economy is going to get impacted, on a relative basis, more than any country in the world, according to the IMF:

"The IMF expects British banks to lose more than £20 billion - equivalent to three per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) - from the international meltdown in sub-prime mortgages. American banks, which had been thought to be bearing the brunt of the credit crisis, will lose £72 billion - equivalent to only 1.4 per cent of US GDP... European countries have lost £61.5 billion - 1.7 per cent of GDP. "

2) UK Housing prices... You Goin' Down, Sucka! (Now, there's a good Telegraph-style headline!)

"Many people... are mesmerised by the recent experience of constantly rising prices and they find it difficult to believe that prices could fall when there is such a "shortage" of houses and the demand is so great... What does it mean to say that there is a shortage of housing? A shortage of houses at what price? Without concern for price there is a shortage of Rolls-Royces."

If this goes on for another 5 years (it might) I'll finally be able to afford a sandwich for lunch in central London!