Repeated liquidity injections by the global central banks since the 2007 global financial crisis have been instrumental in limiting the impact of a negative wealth effect from housing and helping avoid a global depression. The recent waning in economic momentum suggests that further stimulus may yet be required. According to the latest data, home prices remained depressed in most countries on a sequential basis in Q1 2012. As today’s Hot Chart shows, this marked the fourth consecutive quarter during which our diffusion index for nominal home prices was below 50%. No less than four of the G7 economies reported price declines during the quarter (U.S., Japan, France and Italy). The current economic backdrop in the matured economies of the OECD is therefore characterized by a deleveraging process of governments and financial institutions while household net worth is negatively impacted by falling home prices. These conditions are hardly auspicious for strong economic growth in the medium term.