But when price trends for cheaper and more expensive houses diverge, the effect of the mortgage lenders' method is to give the same weight to each type of property.
In November the island's main bank, Hokkaido Takushoku, from which some 60% of Hokkaido's companies had borrowed, collapsed under the weight of bad loans made to building and property companies.
Judge Thornton said however, that in an area blighted by low wages and high property prices, Cornwall Council was entitled to put little weight on a policy which "was not considered fit for purpose any more".
On the weight which their representations and remonstrances carry with them may at any moment depend the lives and property of British citizens and the honour of the British flag and name.