That reduces the cancellation rates even if prices fall or buyers get cold feet.
If prices fall further, they may finally have the chance to set up home.
If prices fall low enough, farmers don't have to pay back the loans.
If prices fall in coming weeks in response to the cartel's production increase, might not some other countries agree?
If prices fall, this process goes viciously into reverse, and a credit crunch can amplify the impact of falling prices.
If prices fall too far, as critics say they now have done, investors should be stepping in to buy the assets.
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And guaranteeing the same price to all may tempt customers of big-ticket items such as cars to buy now, rather than wait to see if prices fall.
First, it would change the widespread market perception that the Fed responds to asset prices asymmetrically, cutting interest rates if share prices fall sharply but never raising them when share prices climb.
But if house prices fall, they will be unable to cut interest rates to cushion their economies.
If oil prices fall too far or interest rates rise too high, both cash sources could dry up.
Many consumers are thought to be waiting to see if prices will fall before they buy a new car.
So if house prices fall below the value of the mortgage, a householder can walk away from his debt.
And even if prices do fall in coming weeks they may well stabilise at a higher level than in the 1990s.
As prices rise quickly in Australia's booming industries and regions, the RBA can meet its inflation target only if prices elsewhere fall.
Even so, says Ms Matsui, if prices merely fall at a slower rate, this could have a profound effect on confidence and expectations.
That means more business for Schlumberger, even if oil prices fall.
Still, if land prices fall, balance-sheets could look a lot worse.
As bank lending returns, and if soya prices fall, farmers will switch to crops such as maize, which offer lower returns but return nutrients to the soil.
On both sides of the Atlantic, firms face the prospect of having to top up these funds if share prices fall for the third year in a row.
Even if share prices fall, he says, the higher yields mean these investments are likely to provide higher returns over the next two to three years than short-term bonds.
And if share prices do fall further, or if demand in America slows abruptly for some other reason, effective remedial action is still possible: the Fed could cut interest rates (as it did, too much so as it turned out, after the stockmarket crash of 1987) or Congress could cut taxes.
With the shake-up in their own markets ostensibly already under way, Europeans will be watching to see if prices continue to fall.
The issues for many considering taking a home loan are whether they will still have a job in a few months time and if house prices might fall further, making a loan cheaper, he adds.
Banking reform is not sustainable without eradicating deflation: if prices continue to fall, more firms will find it hard to make money and fail to keep up loan repayments, and the vicious cycle will persist unchecked.
And while that may sound good for bargain hunters, and perhaps even more importantly for Japan's ageing households receiving fixed pension incomes, if prices continue to fall for a prolonged period, it actually has a negative psychological and business effect, some economists argue.
Oil producers have also tried to keep prices within relatively reasonable levels, simply because demand will fall if prices get too high.
Inflation in the euro area seems set to reach a low then too, even if prices do not actually fall.
If house prices continue to fall, this will undoubtedly knock economic growth.
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