Spanish economic growth will contract to 1.5 percent in 2008, less than half the rate expected this year, due to the end of the country’s real estate boom and a prolonged slowdown in the construction industry, analysts with German bank Commerzbank have warned.

Landlords across the United Kingdom are starting to sell their properties and are heading abroad amid fears of a crash in the country’s housing market, property analysts have warned.

The world’s house price boom has continued in 2007, albeit at a much slower pace and with different set of countries, with Europe's main markets undergoing a dramatic slowdown and the Asia-Pacific region starting to experience rapid price growth.

Spanish Housing Minister Carmen Chacón has confirmed that the Spanish real estate market is continuing to slow with prices likely to rise by only around 4 or 5 percent this year after climbing 5.8 percent in the first six months, the slowest pace since the start of a decade-long property boom.