Those waiting for house prices to fall may well be disappointed.
Regional trends now vary so much that national house price figures are less meaningful than they once were. Each of the last three peaks in house prices—in 1979, 1989 and 2007—was followed by a deep trough, as reported in The Economist.
After the bursting of the 1980s bubble, inflation-adjusted house prices fell for seven years, losing 37%. This time the tide seems to have turned earlier, with prices starting to rise and the average loss, at 26%, much lower. Are houses still overvalued?
Some measures suggest that waiting to buy would be wise, whilst others suggest that the biggest risk could be waiting too long.
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