When boom was lowered on property

Confidence still permeated the property sector at the start of last year, even as the credit crunch in most other markets stalled transactions and caused prices to fall.

Developers were gung-ho about the outlook for their market, responding to continuously high demand with even more ambitious projects.

They had every reason to be enthusiastic: property prices surged 78 per cent between the first quarter of 2007 and the same quarter last year, and everybody wanted a slice of the action.