Real estate consultancy DTZ is tipping a gradual property market recovery only from the middle of next year. The firm bases its view on a new report from its Asia forecasting unit.

This shows how a slump, or recovery, in the stock market is always mirrored in the property market, but only after one or more quarters.

Or to put it more bluntly: The housing market will not recover until at least one quarter, or even a year, after the stock market recovers.

And as any stock market investor knows, the Straits Times Index (STI) is well down from its 2007 peak, even though it has risen slightly recently.

'The STI reflects people's view of the economy so its recovery will really depend on clear signs of an economic recovery,' said DTZ's senior director of consulting and research Chua Chor Hoon.

Experts have long noted that a recovery in the stock market typically precedes an economic recovery, with a recovery in the property market after that.

'It's all co-related in one way or another. The stock market is usually the earliest indicator but it's not hard and fast... its timing might be off,' said Daiwa Institute of Research analyst David Lum.

Last week, the Government said it expects gross domestic product to contract by 6 per cent to 9 per cent this year, well up on an earlier forecast of a 2 per cent to 5 per cent contraction. DTZ's study also underlined the high levels of unsold stock held by developers - another drag on prices and an eventual recovery.

The report indicated that the residential market thus has a higher chance of bottoming out only by mid-2010 and then staging a gradual recovery.

Read the full story in Thursday's edition of The Straits Times.