The 25% is not an exageration and the person who said prices in Europe only go one way is wrong.
My sister had a flat in a good part of North London. In the height of the property boom in 1989 it was valued at 100,000 pounds. That was the time properties were being sold within minutes of being put on the market and people were gazumping each other to get them. First time buyers were reduced to clubbing together or paying ridiculous amounts for studio flats. Two years later the market had collapsed. People found out the meaning of the words negative equity - you can't afford to sell your property because what you get does not pay off what you have borrowed. My sister had to sell but there was no buyers. After many months on the market she accepted 76,000 for it. Of course it would be worth a great deal more now but I think here and in some other parts of the world we are again quite near the top of the market.
I have cashed up in the expectation that in 2 years there will be bargains to be had due to desperate sellers.
