By Mr. Propwise

If you’ve been in the market long enough, you’d have noticed that property prices go up and down in stretches over varying periods of time. In markets as in real life, gravity rules – what goes up must come down.

Sometimes you hear people refer to periods when prices go up as a bull market, when everyone is obsessed with (and an expert on) property, you hear stories about people making lots of money trading properties, and property agents don’t bother returning your calls.

These are then followed by bear markets, when property prices are going down, overleveraged property owners stop talking about how many properties they own, and property agents that are still in the industry tell you how now is a good time to buy from the forced sellers.

We call these recurring patterns of gains and losses “cycles”, and while it is extremely difficult ...