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Our interactive overview of global house prices and rents

THE house-price boom that preceded the financial crisis was remarkable for its scope and scale. With a very few exceptions, there seemed only one way for prices to go: up. Things have been far more diverse since. In The Economist's latest round-up of residential house prices, a brightening outlook for America stands out against the darkening tones among the beleaguered economies on the periphery of the euro area. Over the past year prices have jumped most in Hong Kong, prompting further government efforts to cool the market down. They have dropped by 9.3% in Spain, the heaviest faller.

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ON AVERAGE over the last three years, GE (General Electric), has paid out more in investment-banking services than any other corporation. Last year alone it spent $278m. Most of that went on debt raising, but mergers and acquisitions contributed too. In October 2012 GE sold $7 billion of bonds. JP Morgan, one of GE's advisors, earned $5.6 billion fees last year, more than any other bank. Bank of America Merrill Lynch was the next biggest earner, with $4.9 billion in fees. But both banks' fee revenue fell in 2012. According to Thomson Reuters, a financial-data provider, fees for global investment banking services were $74.8 billion last year, their lowest for three years.

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The misery continues for banks in the developed world

BANKS have gained some time and flexibility in meeting the Basel III liquidity requirements, now that the rules will come into effect four years later and the definition of a "high-quality liquid asset" has been expanded. But prospects for the banking industry are grim in 2013, especially for banks in the developed world. Squeezed by sluggish economic growth, strict new regulations and seemingly endless litigation, profits will remain elusive.

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The fastest growing and shrinking economies in 2013

MACAU will be the fastest growing economy this year, according to the latest estimates from our sister company, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). Growth is expected to return to a faster pace as new casino projects are resumed and Chinese visitors (with rising wages) continue to raise gambling revenues. Mongolia, in second place, can also thank China for boosting its growth rate. China’s demand for minerals has driven investment in the Mongolia’s mining sector. This year Oyu Tolgoi, one of the world’s largest copper and gold mines will begin commercial production.

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AT JUST under $123 billion, the value of initial public offerings (IPOs) last year was the lowest in three years and down by more than a quarter compared with 2011, according to Dealogic, a financial-data provider. Facebook’s $16 billion IPO in May was the year’s largest (and the third-biggest on record for an American company), but its shares’ subsequent bumpy performance may have spooked investors away from any similar-sized deals: the next-biggest IPO was that of Japan Airlines, at $8.5 billion.

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Our ten most popular articles on Economist.com this year

BEFORE looking ahead to the new year, a look behind at the year gone by. We present a clickable "tree map" of our top stories throughout 2012, in which the size of each box represents the relative popularity (measured in page views).

It reveals that American presidential election articles were among the most popular, but ones on French politics also proved a big draw. Pieces on economics, manufacturing and Asian territorial disputes similarly attracted great interest during the year, along with a prominent book review—a paean to the penis—which exposed itself in December as one of our biggest stories.

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China faces a more sober economy in 2013

TO ITS many critics, the momentum of China’s economy is sustained by nothing but an outpouring of investment in plant, infrastructure and property. This appears profitable only because each round of investment creates demand for the products of the previous round. If this investment stopped flowing, China’s economy would fall to earth. In 2012 China’s flow of investment did gurgle and spit, especially in housing. The result was a marked economy-wide slowdown. In 2013 growth should stabilise, as investment resumes, and the biggest driver of growth may be the consumer.

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