New Delhi, May 31 -- Amid the ongoing short-term economic turmoil over elevated fuel and fertiliser prices, long-term structural challenges are taking shape globally. One of these is a global slump in real estate prices. In the immediate aftermath of the covid pandemic, governments cut interest rates and loosened credit to offset the impact of the crisis on jobs and the economy. Real estate prices soared across the globe. However, over the past couple of years, homeowners in New Zealand, China, and the UK have been facing a moment of reckoning. Policymakers always worry about real estate slumps because, as in the US in 2008, they can signal a broader economic crisis.

Home prices soared globally after the loosening of economic purse strin...