A real-estate bubble or property bubble (or housing bubble for residential markets) is a type of economic bubble that occurs periodically in local or global real estate markets, and it typically follows a land boom or reduced interest rates. A land boom is a rapid increase in the market price of real property, such as housing, until prices reach unsustainable levels and then decline. Market conditions during the run-up to a crash are sometimes characterized as "frothy." The questions of whether real estate bubbles can be identified and prevented, and whether they have broader macroeconomic significance, are answered differently by different schools of economic thought, as detailed below.

Bubbles in housing markets have often been more severe than stock market bubbles. Historically, equity price busts occur on average every 13 years, last for 2.5 years, and result in about a 4 percent loss in GDP. Housing price busts are less frequent, but last nearly twice as long and lead to output losses that are twice as large (IMF World Economic Outlook, 2003). A 2012 laboratory experimental study also shows that, compared to financial markets, real estate markets involve more extended boom and bust periods. Prices decline slower because the real estate market is less liquid.

The 2008 financial crisis was caused by the bursting of real estate bubbles that had begun in various countries during the 2000s.

As with other economic bubbles, there is ongoing debate about the feasibility of identifying, predicting, and preventing real estate bubbles. Speculative bubbles are characterized by sustained and systematic deviations of asset prices from their fundamental values, often driven by investor behavior and market sentiment rather than underlying economic indicators. Real estate bubbles are particularly challenging to detect in real-time due to the complex nature of property valuation and the influence of various local and global factors. While economists have developed models to estimate fundamental values—such as analyzing rental yields or comparing price-to-income ratios—accurately forecasting future bubbles remains a significant challenge.

In real estate, fundamentals can be estimated from rental yields (where real estate is then considered in a similar vein to stocks and other financial assets) or based on a regression of actual prices on a set of demand and/or supply variables.

American economist Robert Shiller of the Case–Shiller Home Price Index of home prices in 20 metro cities across the United States indicated on May 31, 2011 that a "Home Price Double Dip [is] Confirmed" and British magazine The Economist, argue that housing market indicators can be used to identify real estate bubbles. Some^[who?] argue further that governments and central banks can and should take action to prevent bubbles from forming, or to deflate existing bubbles. Monetary reform could prevent central banks from setting interest rates too low.

A land value tax (LVT) can be introduced to prevent speculation on land. Real estate bubbles direct savings towards rent seeking activities rather than other investments. A land value tax removes financial incentives to hold unused land solely for price appreciation, making more land available for productive uses. At sufficiently high levels, land value tax would cause real estate prices to fall by removing land rents that would otherwise become 'capitalized' into the price of real estate. It also encourages landowners to sell or relinquish titles to locations they are not using, thus preventing speculators from hoarding unused land.

Within some schools of heterodox economics, by contrast, real estate bubbles are considered of critical importance and a fundamental cause of financial crises and ensuing economic crises.