Estate agents, magazines, newspapers, websites, and even mortgage brokers were enticing people to buy almost any property they could get their hands on citing extraordinary historical capital growth rates as a basis for expecting the same growth in future years. Had properties around the world continued to grow at such alarming rates it is likely that the next generation would find it impossible to buy a home anywhere in the civilised world. It was clear that a bubble was forming, however nobody wanted to face reality and admit it. Times were go good that properties being secured by way of deposits even before a single brick had been laid while developers were planning and constructing a record number of properties on almost any piece of vacant land they could secure.

Fast forward to 2008 and the story is quite different. The credit crunch is in full swing and the property market has begun to contract. The headlines are now reporting monthly declines in the average price of property in the UK and developments throughout Europe and the world are struggling to sell plots. Many developments have ceased part way through construction as they struggle to raise the capital to continue their projects.

The bubble has truly burst. People are now uninterested in investing in property and they are reluctant to sell their own homes and move into new homes. This is because the wait-and-see effect has entered into the psyche of the average punter as people prefer to remain where they are and wait out the worst of the credit crunch. And why not - who wants to sell their home at a substantial discount?

For mortgage brokers this not only means that there is less business to do for buy-to-let investors, there is also a lack of business flowing in from people selling up and relocating. Because of the turmoil with interest rates - will they rise or fall? - many homeowners are also reluctant to refinance their homes. This has resulted in less remortgage work for mortgage brokers. With declines in all three of these markets it is no wonder home loan specialists are hitting the wall.

But it is not all doom and gloom in the property market. Unemployment is a key factor in driving property prices down and it ha so far remained at manageable levels throughout the Western world as business try to retain staff and tough out the credit crunch. Property prices are falling, but they are not in freefall. History may show that the late 2000s provided no more than a correction to property prices and many argue that it would be a correction we had to have. With property prices previously exceeding six times homeowners' salaries in some areas of the UK at the height of the property boom it seems apparent that the bubble had to burst.

So while it would be foolish to predict that the property market is going to crash and burn like never before, it is worth noting that the next calendar year could prove telling for the property market and therefore mortgage brokers. Unemployment, while historically low, is rising. Each half a percentage point rise in the number of jobless results in many thousands of people joining the queue at the unemployment office and ceasing all activity with regards to the property market.