Wise investors will spend 2005 preparing for it.

And that doesn’t just mean buying, buying, buying.

It means timing.

All markets pick up well in the spring and almost always they overshoot at that time, then falling back to more sustainable levels ...

... until the autumn, when gloom descends and this prevails throughout the winter until we reach the new year when there is another pick up before the spring resurgence.

So, the key to exploiting the 2006 boom, as any other, is to know that it is always darkest before dawn and, of course, to know which point is the darkest!

Right now, and we would expect until January/February, developers will struggle because sentiment will stay poor - therefore prices will be extremely tempting for the long term player.

There will almost certainly be some price pick up in the spring.  And, as time goes on and the great property price crash fails to happen (and let’s face it, few now believe there will be a crash), the really tempting discounts will start to dry up.

Prices are unlikely to bounce, but the really hot deals will have gone.  Until, that is, the autumn.  This is the time, when, as we’ve said before, the savvy investor goes shopping.

There will be so-called 'distressed' or 'motivated' buyers throughout the year for many reasons. 

But the key is to get active in the market and get locked in BEFORE the spring of 2006.

Any later may well be too late for the whole of another price cycle!   But remember, even if you get the timing wrong, doing anything at any time is better than doing nothing - in the long term.