Leader: A welcome dose of realism in the property market

IN THE salons, cafés and restaurants of the capital they speak of little else. Along with eduction, the rise and fall in house prices provide endless fascination, endless speculation and in the current harsh economic climate endless worry.

On the face of it, therefore, the warning from a well-established selling agent that Edinburgh may not see a recovery in its property market until the middle of the decade seems guaranteed to induce further worry lines on the foreheads of the city's property-owning classes.

Warners, which one might have thought had a vested interest in continued optimism, struck a realistic note warning that continued economic slowdown has led to a surplus of properties for sale, a dearth of demand among buyers and that the days of huge premiums on "offers over" were long gone.

A case of commercial suicide on behalf of the agents? Well, no. For they had another message - one which, admittedly, it is in their interest to propagate - that buyers and sellers should be able to move home providing they have "realistic expectations" about what prices their properties will reach.

It may be an uncomfortable message for those who have taken a large stake in the property-owning democracy in the expectation that the value of their assets would continue to rise come what may, year after year, for ever.

But it is a realistic and welcome message. What it means and, equally importantly, does not mean is crucial. It means that people will have to curb their expectations when it comes to selling. What it does not mean is that the housing market has come to a halt.

Quite the opposite; the conclusion is that there is still an appetite for house purchases. Indeed, there is anecdotal evidence of a pent-up demand as potential sellers postpone putting their property on the market in the hope that the possible price will rise.

Such people will have, in the jargon, to get real, but if they do - if we all do - then the end result could be a modest but welcome revival in the housing market, which might help the economy and give the citizens of Edinburgh something more to talk about.