AUSTRALIA’S love affair with property is about to be tested amid predictions prices will plummet by as much as 60 per cent, with capital cities hardest hit.

That’s the Armageddon-esque warning from leading US real estate analyst Jordan Wirsz, who believes Australia is heading towards a property bloodbath as the global economic downturn spreads to China and eventually here.

Mr Wirsz advises Fortune 500 CEOs and fund managers on investing in real estate.

He predicts that a flood of properties will begin to hit the market in Australia from next year as investors scramble to bail out, leading to a property crash of magnitude the country has not seen before.

“Right now is not a time to be buying real estate in Australia,” Mr Wirsz said.

“The market has slowed substantially but residential prices are likely to fall up to 60 per cent, possibly even more, within five years.”

The outlook is even grimmer for land investments, which Mr Wirsz said are more speculative and will plummet by as much as 80 and 90 per cent in value.

Commercial property will also take a hit in line with the residential sector shedding at least 50 per cent of its value.

Mr Wirsz pointed to artificially low interest rates, high loan-to-value lending practices, overinflated property prices, unrealistic vendor expectations and Australia’s large number of second mortgages.

“I’m bearish about world real estate but I couldn’t be more bearish about the Australian market,” he said.

“There have been corrections but they don’t hold up to the scale of what is coming.

“The paradigm is that nobody ever believes house prices can go down but those who have bought at the top of the market are going to be sorely disappointed.”

He predicts property prices will be on a slippery slope next year when interest rates begin to rise, commodity prices peak and China’s demand for Australian exports slows.