Ernie Kovacs was Mr. Question Man. Steve Allen was the Answer Man. And Johnny Carson was Carnac the Magnificent, who presumed to know the question — which was hermetically sealed and kept in a #2 mayonnaise jar — after being told the answer.

Rather than test the psychic powers of comedians, we turned to eight prominent researchers for their predictions. Their answers were uniformly, “As good as it gets.” The question inside the envelope was, “How do you see 2016?”

“The supply side is still under control, and a lot of real estate is still undermanaged, a legacy from the global crisis [of 2007],” points out José Pellicer, head of research at Rockspring Property Investment Managers. “The fact that the oil price is low positively affects all sectors; companies have a lower cost base, and consumers have higher disposable income.”

“The most telling metric is the pace of construction that’s now under way because that’s the sp