Have you heard of Warren Buffett? He’s one of the richest men on the planet and possibly the greatest investor the world has ever seen. But despite his great wealth, his company, Berkshire Hathaway, is based in Nebraska and the 79 year-old billionaire has a plain corner office with no computer.

The reason I’m telling you all this is that he knows a thing or two about markets and in his recent letter to shareholders he said the U.S. residential real estate slump will end within a year. And whatever happens financially in the U.S. usually happens in the UK shortly after meaning a quick house sale could be on the cards. Buffet feels confident that the market will recover by early 2011 because the Government is to reduce new housing developments to a number far below the rate of household formations.

Yesterday we posted about the Council of Mortgage Lender (CML) findings that indicated the drop in home ownership would continue due to low supply and low levels of credit. But just how severe has the drop been so far? Well the Survey of English Housing by the Department of Communities and Local Government revealed that home-ownership was falling as far back as 2005.

The research also said that the housing market is likely to see less home-owners and more tenants, a situation that’s worrying for the the reasons we reported on last week. But what’s even more alarming is that the number of houses built yearly between 1999 and 2009 was around 150,000 but housing charity Shelter suggest an average of 242,000 homes per year is needed to meet current demand.