Property is one of those things where people are irrational about purchasing, which is good if you want to make money. Some people don't even care about the price -- they want to buy in 201X, and buy a property they shall.

If you believe property to be (significantly) overvalued, then you should rent instead of buy. If you're at the end of a "boom", then it's not unreasonable to wait it out and see how prices progress. Low interest rates also tend to push residential prices higher, because people can pay off more principal monthly vs less if rates are higher. When buying property it's almost always better to buy when rates are high and refinance later than to buy when rates are low.

Buying high and selling low is also definitely a thing. That doesn't necessarily mean you can't find a good deal somewhere (you can), but it'll be much harder.

Tldr: Unlike what most people believe, property is not a "sure thing" investment.

In London, yeah.

Prices today 3 times what they were in 2004. Well above inflation.

Rest of the country, that doesn't attract the "need to hide my money from a foreign tax man" crowd, not so much.