Introduction

A home is in most developed nations in the world the centrepiece of the family finances, it is simultaneously the largest investment and largest expense of almost any individual lucky enough to break it to this increasingly unattainable market with a massive mortgage. But is this all for the best? Have houses been conflated with poker chips, as people no longer look at them as shelter for a growing family but rather as an asset to make wild speculative moves on in the hope of equally wild returns. The property market was at the centre of the last financial downturn in 2008, and as it seems we are on the precipice of another major recession it is probably a prudent time to re-evaluate what is going on with the world of real estate. To do this we are really going to have to look at things on a few level’s from the macroeconomic factors like over-development and over-leveraging to issues on an economy-wide level which is ultimately going to boil down to answering a few key questions: What does a strong property market mean for the wider economy? Are their better investments out there? And are we over-leveraged right now?

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