The Times: Market slowdown on the way

If you take delight in seeing experts proved wrong, the misplaced pessimism of most 2006 housing market forecasts could permit you to give full vent to that emotion. You could enjoy a special thrill, for example, at the sight of the latest Halifax figures showing annual price growth of 8.2 per cent; you could also get a kick from the similarly gratifying new numbers from the Department for Communities and Local Government. The predictions for 2006 may have been overcautious, but the evidence for a more subdued mood ahead is convincing. Prices seem set to slow, but not to fall. Nothing dramatic seems about to happen, just a slackening of the pace. But even that may be scant comfort to those whose entry into the market has been once more postponed by this year’s upward surge. But this should not stop you heeding the new consensus on the direction for prices