Estate agents and building societies are for ever stating that things in their market are "great, improving, you can't lose etc."
Of course it has nothing to do with the fact that they have a vested interest in talking up the market!
The fact is housing got to a vastly over-inflated level on the back of more borrowed money than the economy could withstand and until that problem is resolved, ie. a massive drop in prices, the ecomomy will continue to stagnate.
At least in the States they see that and slash prices to a level which becomes attractive. To my eyes property in the UK is still way over priced, especially when you consider how difficult money is to come by now.
This is going to take a very long time to see a real recovery.