The credit crunch has seriously dented the aspirations of many would be landlords and investors wile the government try to kick start the economy. The old adage of 'in it for the long term' has never seemed so resonant. With large scale panic selling during 2008 amidst the worst economic meltdown since the First World War which has spelt disaster for many who took out one of Britain's 1.1million buy-to-let loans. The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), show a rise of nearly 50 per cent in defaults for buy-to-let mortgages. The writing was on the wall as reported in early 2007 'buy-to-let_property_repossession_warning', the traditional 'exit strategy' of selling up was no longer an option. Just 748,000 residential properties worth more than £40,000 were sold in the nine months to the end of September 2008, compared to year end totals of 1.68million in 2006 and 1.63million in 2007.

The stock market has certainly had its peaks and troughs. Add to this the serious loss of public confidence in pension funds as a means of saving for the future and it is not surprising that investors have looked elsewhere. Compounded by the endowment mis-selling scandal. The UK property market, whilst cyclical, has proved over the long-term to be a very successful investment. It is not just buy-to-let properties that the British people are banking on. Homes account for 55% of wealth, according to insurer Prudential in early 2007, and was set to rise to 60% within two years, albeit within the current climate the figures may well be skewed.

With the lessons of the last eighteen months in mind property may well be seen as a sound investment within a wider portfolio, but is relying on it solely a risky strategy. Many are also choosing to downsize or release equity through a loan scheme in old age. Yet there are dangers in this route, too. Could relying on using value from your home and/or property investment to see you through retirement not be mixed with a more diverse spread of risk. Could the scenario of 2008 and 2009 not repeat itself, albeit presenting counter cyclical opportunities. How can the state of the housing market be predicted at any given time. To some degree the boom and bust culture may well serve as a somewhat blunt yardstick.

However what still remains and what fundamentally and simply underpins property investment and retaining faith in the market is that we are, and will always be, a small overcrowded island. Greenbelt restricts about 13 percent of England and despite government moves to remove the inherent bearocracy within some areas of planning. Since 1995 the number of householder planning applications in the UK has more than doubled to an annual total of almost 330,000. The changes were expected to save the taxpayer up to £50 million a year by removing almost a quarter of those planning applications from local planning offices. Irrespective creating real and sustainable wealth within the main residence still remains tangible.