It largely guesswork really isn't it?! Just as no-one could predict when the bubble would burst, there are so many imponderables that I don't suppose we'll know where the bottom of the market is until we're well past it.

This might not have been 'tulip fever' as nasaroc says, but when those who you'd hope would have more sense were talking about a "new paradigm" for property prices, when every second programme on TV was about property, and taxi drivers were telling me buy to let was a sure bet I knew there was trouble ahead.

With the buy to let market in decline and a more realistic attitude to lending multiples, personally I wouldn't be surprised if prices of flats and houses in some parts of London do drop up to 50% from their peak - particularly on some of those new builds (hello Bermondsey "Spa").

Overall I'm less optimistic than some about how prices in HOP and FH will fare, particularly as one of the reasons some have moved to SE23 is its relative affordability - i.e. they can't afford somewhere they'd actually prefer, like E**t D*****h, so they go for somewhere close to it. If prices in more 'established' areas become affordable then, as good as it is, why move to SE23?