In a fairly alarming report, the residential property market in the United States of America could be set to collapse, which could devastate the countrys economy, according to economists and investors who have witnessed property prices appreciate enormously over the past couple of years.

"The collapse of the housing bubble will throw the economy into a recession, and quite likely a severe recession," warned a July report by the Centre for Economic and Policy Research.

"The demographic story behind the housing market boom, as we always thought, was a giant hoax," wrote Merrill Lynch & Co.s North American Economist, David Rosenberg, in a recent report.

Lehman Brothers, an innovator in global finance, estimates that one-third of the past years U.S. economic growth was a consequence of the countrys housing boom.

A downturn in housing could mean the loss of millions of jobs. The Centre for Economic and Policy Research forecasts that as many as 6.3 million jobs could be lost if the housing bubble in the US bursts.