Time to bail out of housing: economist

The figures showed a net gain of 1,500 people in December which Alexander says is below the average December gain for the last 10 years of 1,718.

"Extrapolate that result for the year and you get a net gain of 11,000 people versus the 34,909 gained over 2003 and 38,200 gained over 2002," he says.

What’s worse, the rate of turn in the figures is accelerating "so one cannot rule out no net gain this year and a loss of people over 2005, especially with the world economy looking strong."

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