A sudden slowdown in the US housing market has sent analysts scouring the globe in search of clues as to what might happen next. Will America’s spectacular residential property boom end in a “soft landing” – for house prices and its economy as a whole – or are shocks of a more brutal severity in store, which could resonate far beyond its shores?

On one level, what they see is encouraging. Recent experience in the UK and Australia, to take two of the better examples, shows that a housing boom need not end in falling house prices and protracted economic stagnation, though a phase of growth below the usual trend is likely while the economy adjusts.