Are UK house prices about to fall?

Are current UK house prices at unsustainable levels? Gordon Brown's former adviser, David Miles, thinks so - he's just predicted a housing bust. But, says Brian Durrant, houses are unlike any other asset - and that makes it very difficult to call a crash.

Are current UK house prices at unsustainable levels? We at MoneyWeek have thought so for some time. And now Gordon Brown's former adviser, David Miles, thinks so too - he's just predicted a housing bust. But, says Brian Durrant, houses are unlike any other asset - and that makes it very difficult to call a crash.

For the British, our homes have been more than dwellings, they have been gold mines. Over the past 10 years real (inflation-adjusted) house prices have doubled, while real disposable incomes have risen by only 29%. Latest figures available show that in 2005, housing made up 53% of the total wealth of UK households, compared with 39% 10 years earlier. Yet again we have been told, the housing boom cannot last and the end is nigh.

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Brian has contributed to MoneyWeek with his expertise in investment strategy, for example how to quadruple your dividend income and how to navigate through the stock market in the 2008 financial crisis. He’s also touched on personal finance such as the housing market and the UK economy.