The Housing Downturn: Picking up the Pieces

For the first time, senior figures from all elements of the residential industry – developers, agents, analysts, lenders, planners and pundits – comment on what they believe led to the downturn. The book then sets out what the industry may learn from the experience. It compares those developers and estate agents that down-sized or collapsed altogether with those that survived and, in some cases, even prospered in the downturn. It identifies common indicators amongst those that remained strong through a fifty percent collapse in sales and a twenty-fiver percent plus collapse in prices, and offers insights into how policies of diversification and modernisation helped many companies survive. It also looks to the future and presents a sobering vision, created by scores of experts interviewed during the downturn, of what the market may be like when volumes, prices and spirits move upwards once again.