A survey of leading economists in the United States carried out by the prestigious Wall Street Journal reveals that the majority view is the worst of the US property price slump is over.

The Journal surveys a group of more than 50 economists whether they believed the worst of the slump was now over.

Nearly two to one of the economists agreed that it was over, although most believe that the average price of a property will continue to fall next year.

The important feature of this view, though, is that it means a property price slowdown is highly unlikely to see the US economy derailed and heading for a recession - something from which no market in the world could be sure of immunity.

And, if these leading economists are correct in their forecasts, it means that all significant, first world property markets that have undergone a sustained boom will have cooled without crashing - a contradiction of the previous boom and bust model we've come to expect. These markets include the UK, Ireland, Holland, Australia, France and Spain, and, perhaps most significantly of all, the US.