Stephen Peete was speaking after being appointed to the executive committee of the Council of Mortgage Lenders and in the wake of Chancellor Gordon Brown's "electioneering" Budget.
House prices, he said, would eventually have to stabilise and a major factor in bringing this about could be the rental market.
"Buying properties to let has taken the place of traditional first time buyers but once supply exceeds demand, and this is already happening, then rents will fall and the buy to let market will no longer be economic," he said.
"Nor can wages keep pace with rising house prices because of the fight against inflation, and this will be another factor in seeing some normality restored to the market."
Mr Peete said housing associations also had a role to play but all too often there was a stigma attached to social housing.
"This is often from neighbourhoods which don't want social housing developments anywhere near them," he said. "This is a hangover from the days when a percentage of properties had certain categories of disadvantaged and stereotyped applicants."
Mr Peete said that even with the Government backing a building boom in property hot spots to cool down prices he could not see how demand would ever be satisfied.
"If there is a shortage of something prices go up." he declared. "The Bank of England is therefore likely to move rates upward to try and head off problems in the future and both lenders and potential borrowers have to look seriously at what is affordable."
