One of the main speakers at today’s annual central bankers’ symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, will tell his audience that there may be an American housing crisis to match any in history – and that Britain and Canada are likely to follow suit.

Robert Shiller, Economics Professor at Yale University, told The Times: “People are so accustomed to rising house prices, they do not believe it when someone tells them it will come to an end . . . What we have may be the makings of an economic crisis. We may be at a unique point in world history, like 1929, but this time it would be the housing market. Prices are still going up in Canada and the UK, but the US may lead the way.”

Professor Shiller will be speaking at the two-day symposium, which is attended by some of the world’s leading central bankers, economists and academics.

Ben Bernanke, the Chairman of the US Federal Reserve, is preparing the opening remarks for the symposium, which will also be attended by Charlie Bean, the chief economist at the Bank of England, and Kazumasa Iwata, deputy governor of the Japanese central bank.

Coincidentally, the agenda for the conference set some time ago is on housing. It comes in the aftermath of the crisis in the sub-prime mortgage market in America this summer, which has triggered a sell-off in equity and debt markets worldwide.

Mr Bernanke’s keenly awaited opening remarks on housing and monetary policy will be his first public remarks since the US Federal Reserve cut its discount rate on August 17 in an attempt to avert a liquidity crisis.

Kevin Logan, senior market economist at Dresdner Kleinwort, in New York, said: “Jackson Hole could not be more timely . . . Bernanke is likely to say that the Fed is monitoring the situation and will use the tools at its disposal to ensure liquidity.”