A sharp correction in US house prices is unlikely although the recent pace of house price inflation is unsustainable and strains are starting to show, Alan Greenspan said on Friday.

The Federal reserve chairman said a slowdown in house price growth was likely and this in turn would mean less of the support seen in recent years for consumer spending. Even so, the housing market was unlikely to be “a large macroeconomic issue” for the Fed, he told the Economics Club of New York.