Thursday, Mar 29, 2007

Why Soft Landings are Impossible in Property Booms

University College Dublin: Irish House Prices: Gliding into the Abyss?

Academic Economist reviews property booms in recent history and explains why the soft landings are the stuff of fantasy.

Posted by royston @ 11:39 AM (191 views) Add Comment

20 Comments

1. Watch This Space - Help!!! said...

interesting article, may well happen here!!!

Thursday, March 29, 2007 11:51AM Report Comment
 

2. Scott said...

The author seems very objective. His most significant point is that property is either really going up or really going down, it has never levelled off, even in other countries. Now is not the time to buy folks. I was considering it for the past 6 months out of fear of not being priced out but it was all an illusion. With so many people in mortgage and consumer debt, there will be a crash like you have never seen.

Thursday, March 29, 2007 12:13PM Report Comment
 

3. Sam said...

wow, figure 1: the bigger they are the harder they fall.

Thursday, March 29, 2007 12:19PM Report Comment
 

4. rich said...

Seems to apply to the UK just as much as it does Ireland.

Thursday, March 29, 2007 12:28PM Report Comment
 

5. paul said...

It's a bit anecdotal and unacademic but I can see there has been some analysis. The "fundamentals" Kelly talks about have changed no more in the UK than Ireland, and therefore I can't see how the UK can get off with a soft landing either.

Thursday, March 29, 2007 12:46PM Report Comment
 

6. royston said...

This is a user friendly version that I think he published in an Irish newspaper - Irish Times, probably. A more academic / technical version of the same ideas is available here:

http://www.ucd.ie/economics/staff/mkelly/papers/housing.pdf

Thursday, March 29, 2007 12:53PM Report Comment
 

7. Davros said...

It looks applicable to anywhere we've have a speculative housing boom. House prices slow, investors sell up, demand plummets and we head back the way we came at the same rate.

Thursday, March 29, 2007 12:56PM Report Comment
 

8. Adam said...

What an objective and refreshing article, it seems like there will be no escaping a housing price crash. A very true and basic point, once renting becomes so much cheaper than buying then there will be a crash. Enough said.

Thursday, March 29, 2007 01:17PM Report Comment
 

9. sold 2 rent 1 said...

Great article.

I think we should rename this website
www.housecontrolleddescentintoterrain.com

I should show my wife this article.
It took some persuading from me to sell her house in Dublin.

Thursday, March 29, 2007 01:32PM Report Comment
 

10. paul said...

http://www.ucd.ie/economics/staff/mkelly/papers/housing.pdf

Ahh yes, that's a bit more like it.

Nice one royston.

Thursday, March 29, 2007 01:49PM Report Comment
 

11. sold 2 rent 1 said...

The key thing from the article is any worldwide property slump will last much longer than expected (8-9 years).
I think there will be no buy-in time until 2018.

The forthcoming slump will last an entire economic cycle

We are looking at a Japanese style "lost" decade

Thursday, March 29, 2007 02:04PM Report Comment
 

12. royston said...

Here is a special message for Glorious Sunshine:

href="http://www.music-scores.com/music-scores/midtemp.php?more=ba_1043_b_2vns"

Thursday, March 29, 2007 02:15PM Report Comment
 

13. royston said...

Thursday, March 29, 2007 02:27PM Report Comment
 

14. royston said...

For you, Glorious Sunshine

Thursday, March 29, 2007 02:29PM Report Comment
 

15. Tara747 said...

Can someone cut and paste the content of the article? I can't open it...

S2R1, do show it to your wife. :)

Thursday, March 29, 2007 04:26PM Report Comment
 

16. Scott said...

Sold2Rent1,

Japan lost more than a decade. A property in Japan today is worth what it was in 1991.

Thursday, March 29, 2007 05:44PM Report Comment
 

17. inflation is eating my savings said...

Royston- perhaps the most apt thing about this choice of music is that in the first movement, one violin part is the perfect reverse of the part for the other fiddle. Musical genius applied to boom and bust economics. nice one.

Friday, March 30, 2007 05:30AM Report Comment
 

18. sold 2 rent 1 said...

The Economist wrote a similar article back in 2005.
We all know there will be a crash, the only question is timing.

Friday, March 30, 2007 07:23AM Report Comment
 

19. sold 2 rent 1 said...

Tara747,

Type "Irish House Prices: Gliding into the Abyss?" into Google and click "View as HTML" on the first entry

For the more detailed article
Type "On the Likely Extent of Falls in Irish House Prices" into Google and click "View as HTML" on the first entry

Try installing acrobat
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

Friday, March 30, 2007 12:15PM Report Comment
 

20. Tara747 said...

Thanks, s2r1. Brilliant article.

Did you show it to your wife?

Monday, April 2, 2007 04:39PM Report Comment
 

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