The US sub-prime mortgage collapse continues to rattle financial markets across the globe and speculation of a US recession seems to be growing. Effects have been immediately felt here in Australia with mortgage lenders finding it more difficult to source funds at attractive rates and, like anything, that rise in cost has to be passed on to the consumer via higher rates.

The ABC has presented a very interesting documentary on the US mortgage market via their Four Corners program which is available for viewing online - see: US Mortgage Meltdown.

Journalist Paul Barry interviews a number of financial commentators, experts, industry members and consumers including: Professor Robert Shiller of Yale University - At the Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics he has, among many, an interesting paper on Historic Turning Points in Real Estate [PDF] in the US market and Satyajit Das - an international derivatives specialist and Author - Satyajit Das’s Blog.

The documentary runs for around 44 minutes. The Four Corners website also features extended interviews and resources including news links and further reading in which they point to detailed articles on the US subprime fallout and research papers on the Australian mortgage market from the Australian Parliament and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority.