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Can House Prices Remain so High?
Author(s) -
Meen Geoff
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
economic outlook
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.1
H-Index - 8
eISSN - 1468-0319
pISSN - 0140-489X
DOI - 10.1111/1468-0319.00371
Subject(s) - economics , asset (computer security) , house price , rest (music) , empirical evidence , macroeconomics , development economics , monetary economics , medicine , philosophy , computer security , cardiology , epistemology , computer science
House prices are rarely out of the headlines in the UK and continue to be a national obsession. But, for an asset that is so important in household portfolios, regrettably, the standard of economic analysis is often extremely poor, ignoring even the most basic economic theory and empirical evidence. In this article, Geoff Meen assesses the dangers of a collapse in house prices. A more dispassionate look at the evidence suggests that, at the national level, there is little evidence of a serious problem. This remains the case when we move to the regional level. However, we would suggest, on the basis of preliminary evidence, that certain areas of London could be over‐valued. If any market is to decline, this would be our first bet. But it does not follow that the rest of the country will also decline.