It's ironic - the whistle went out on subprime lending months ago, but even still, the Fed says that the ongoing collapse of this market has yet to have a visible impact on wider economic indicators.

What's even more interesting is how a lot of the extremes seem on different ends of the states, with both Miami and California flagged as investment risks.

While the US property market continues to slump, the question I guess is whether this offers new opportunities now for investors - or whether like the UK, it may be wiser to simply hang back for a couple of years and see what pickings are left once the impact of the subprime market has worked it's way out?