"The days of double-digit appreciation are over, but there are still multiple offers on homes when they are priced right".
Such appreciation over the years has made cost a much bigger issue for buyers.
Fifteen percent appreciation over a year, which is substantial, is not unusual".
But analysts almost uniformly say they expect further appreciation over the next year.
Osamu Nakano, a sociologist, describes them as "choosing pleasure over pain, recreation over work, consumption over production, appreciation over creation".
But Mr. Perschke said he understood that he was "not going to see that appreciation over the next three years".
Recovery forecasts, Mr. Khater said, are based on historical data from housing market cycles and the average home-price appreciation over the last 30 years.
The Ford Foundation, America's second largest, has an endowment of $14billion, but its growth, like that of most philanthropical institutions, has come from asset appreciation over time.
He noted that while the property market in London had been strengthening of late, demand remained high among investors because of the returns they could realize from renting their properties, with the additional potential for capital appreciation over time.
"There isn't a time limit, but if you think assets are going up in value, the sooner you swap the noncash assets, the sooner you're moving the appreciation over to the other side," Mr. Katzenstein said.
