It is high time that the likes of Daiei, a retailer, Misawa Homes Holdings, a housebuilder, and Sojitz, a trading company, were cast adrift.

ECONOMIST: Swallow hard

Mr Fox turned the institute from being an ineffective housebuilder into a mortgage lender for its members, who now have individual accounts with it.

ECONOMIST: Laying the foundations of a property-owning democracy

The property market has changed dramatically since 1997, when Mr Paim de Andrade led the first initial public offering of a Brazilian housebuilder (Rossi Residencial).

ECONOMIST: A housing boom has investors swooning

Mark Clare, group chief executive of Barratt Developments, the UK's biggest housebuilder, said that self-built homes still needed to be financed and expertise needed to put them up.

BBC: DIY homes should be made easier, says housing minister