Halifax's latest house price survey, published today, shows a 0.9pc rise in prices in December but that more broadly, the market has stalled with only a 0.3pc for the quarter, from October to December. This was the slowest rate of growth in two years.
The reasons are covered in this report.
One crucial measure of fair value is included within the data on Halifax's website.
Each month it publishes a price-to-earnings ratio going back to 1983.
This p/e relationship, based on a comparison of house prices and average wages should be closely watched; history shows a high p/e ratio often heralds price falls (although the credit boom sustained a p/e above 5 between 2003 and 2007).
In the last two months, the p/e ratio has lurched above five. It was 5.07 in December, the highest since June 2008 when the market began to buckle.
This is way above the long-term average of 4.1.
At a most basic level, and assuming the elasticity of markets means prices return to their long-run average, expect a fall of 19pc.
But that may be a conservative estimate if you sit in the camp that believes the market has been artificially inflated since the millennium. For the Eighties and Nineties, the p/e average was 3.64, or 28pc below today's level.
Long-run average (1983-2015): 4.1
Long-run average (1983-1999): 3.64
Of course, the property bulls often point to another measure of affordability, the percentage of wages swallowed up by mortgage repayments. This is relatively low, despite high house prices, because a low central bank rate and state-backed lending schemes have made mortgages dirt cheap (the chart below, from Nationwide, shows repayments today only swallow 34pc of wages compared to 52pc in 2007 and 55pc in 1989).
Other dangers lurk in data conclusions. The figures for the last two months are estimated, based on the expectations of Halifax economists of what official wage data will show.
It's also worth noting that Halifax uses men's full-time wages in its calculations. But women have seen their wages rise faster than have men. In fact official data shows that among 30-year-olds women earn nearly as much as men - compared to a gap of 45pc in 1975. The ratio also doesn't take into account the changing proportion of households with two incomes.
Halifax says the use of male full-time earnings is a "historical decision". "Its continued use allows us to make the comparison on a like-for-like basis," said a spokesman.
The lender also said that which ever earnings series used "it would tell the same overall story".
I don't buy that.
I'm no property bull but while this data implies the market is 19pc too high, it may not be the true picture.
This particular p/e ratio that was a useful measure of affordability when created in 1983 has diminished relevance today.