It’s always the same. For whatever reason, usually to do with human activity and greed and avarice, a bubble forms. As more people find out about what can always only be a false promise of lasting wealth emanating from the bubble and try to get in, the bubble stretches and gets bigger and bigger. Eventually, the bubble can stand it no longer and bursts under the pressure, spilling contents asunder. It is not only the bubble that is deflated; the expectations of the occupants of the bubble, based on that false promise of wealth, are also deflated.

Investment bubbles have been with us since time immemorial. One constant over the years and centuries is that burst investment bubbles leave disappointed, disgruntled and disaffected investors in their wake. Property investment is talked of as running in a cycle, with ups and downs, highs and lows, tops and bottoms, and at any one time we know roughly where we are in the cycle. Don’t we?