(New York)

Boom looks ready to turn to bust in the real estate market. While those paying attention will already know that commercial real estate looks past its peak, and residential real estate has just started to show signs of weakness, what US investors may not realize is that the phenomenon is global, and that fact is more important than ever. Because of the rise of the global wealthy and their transient lifestyles, global real estate markets have become more correlated, and that means additional bad news for US home prices. All across the world, from London, to Sydney, to Beijing, to New York, urban home prices are weakening as inventories rise and the sector switches from a seller’s to a buyer’s market.

FINSUM: The real estate market used to be less correlated, but the huge boom in urban real estate over the last decade means that all areas will probably come down together too. To recap, US home purchases have been falling at the same time as inventories have finally begun rising. It seems like a rough period is coming.