Will house prices ever recover

For the depressed amongst you, this Love Money article could put you over the edge...

"And what if property prices don't bounce back for years, or even decades? It could happen. The massive wealth implosion of recent months won't be reversed in a hurry.

The ageing population means that there won't be enough young people around to kickstart any meaningful house price recovery. Especially since many will be burdened by student and other debts - and desperately seeking a job.

The younger generation will also shoulder a massive tax burden to cover Gordon Brown's bailouts and spending commitments, and the tens of billions in corporation tax receipts that the Exchequer won't receive in a recession.

High levels of immigration could take up the slack, although the numbers might reduce if the Tories come to power.

The world has changed in ways that we haven't yet begun to understand, and normal service will not be resumed anytime soon.

...

The buy-to-let market will return to what it always should have been, a niche investment for professional landlords, rather than a fast-track to millionaire status. One and two bed flats will be sold to the people they always should have been sold to: first-time buyers.

Property mania will go down with canal mania and railway mania as an historical footnote.

And anybody who rushed to bag a bargain after the market had fallen 21% will feel as clever as I did, after diving back into shares last autumn when the FTSE hit 4400."