Oil prices going up, house prices coming down.

People (or at least the media) seem surprised at a) the price of fuel going up and b) the price of houses coming down.

Look, it's simple:

a) We're running out of oil. There's only so much of it, we can't keep using it forever. Some time in the next few decades, it'll all be gone (or at least the bits of it you and I can afford to buy). All the OPEC stuff and taxes is by-the-by. The crunch point - when demand outstrips supply - is less than a decade away.

Prices are going up and they're staying up.

b) House prices have doubled or tripled in the past few years, for no good reason! This is called an economic bubble, and it's now begun to burst. Did homeowners really think that they'd gained £200,000 for doing absolutely nothing? Life just doesn't work like that!

Prices are coming down, and they're staying down (at least, until the next bubble).