phil mercerjoins us now buyers, if they can get a loan. m buyers, if they can get a loan. phil mercerjoins us now from sydney. so what is the latest on the numbers? well, we are expecting to see new data about new house sales in australia. they were down sharply in december, the expectation is the january will have fared no better. overall, we are seeing a slump in prices right across the board. we have seen quite sharp falls in recent times, not only here in sydney, prices down 10% in the past year, and 9% in melbourne, but also falls in brisbane and in darwin as well. so the only capital city, the only major city in australia, that is defying the slump is hobart. but generally across the board there is, as we heard in the piece, plenty of doom and gloom. indeed, plenty of doom and gloom. indeed, plenty of doom and gloom. indeed, plenty of doom and this credit squeeze is adding to that doom and gloom. when you speak to people in the market, they say that the credit squeeze is having an almighty effect on the market. and the reason for that