Bursting bubbles

The booming international property markets may be set for rough times as economists warn of an investment bubble in property markets. The booming housing markets in the western economies are in particularly risky territory. House prices have already been rising steadily for at least the last 10 years. Retail and office markets look different compared to the housing markets but also have signs of imbalance between underlying fundamentals and valuations. Commercial property prices have behaved very differently in the most recent business cycle. In most countries, commercial property price f...