US market stabilising but appreciation not predicted for a while

Individuals with a property interest in the US will be encouraged by news that falling real estate values in the country are slowly levelling out.

According to a report published by Barclays Capital, there will only be another four or five per cent drop in prices before the market begins to stabilise.

However, the paper warns that significant appreciation is unlikely to occur within the next few years.

It praises the US government's efforts to slow the rate of foreclosures as helping to ensure prices did not go into free-fall.

The report adds: "Home prices do seem a little cheap, using fundamental metrics like price/rent and price/income ratios, but not extremely so.

"Thus, a meaningful rise in prices would need big changes on both the technical and fundamental fronts."

Individuals looking to make a long-term investment may wish to consider looking across the Atlantic, where numerous foreclosed properties could present them with a bargain.

Warren Buffet recently predicted that the US property market would be in recovery within the next year.