There's more today on the weirdness of a housing boom in the midst of the worst economic crisis in 300 years, helped by temporary tax breaks that will expire - probably before Lockdown3 comes to an end.
It's always puzzling why people aren't more repulsed when lenders report "soaring" house prices; we wouldn't, for example, welcome "soaring" gas or electricity prices - or soaring bread prices. But in any case that's what Halifax says they have been doing:
"Soaring" sounds very different if you're hoping to be a first-time buyer than if you're a potential seller who thinks 'ah - freebie time'. That something for nothing mentality has led politicians for decades to think it's bad politics to have prices fall.
...and to spend taxpayers' money propping them up (from mortgage interest relief in the late 1980s to Help to Buy to the current stamp duty holiday). But the reality is that unless your next move in the housing market is to downsize - rising house prices work against you.
Today the estate agency chain Chestertons highlights a huge imbalance in supply and demand: “There were 4% more homes for sale in 2020 than the previous year compared to a more than 40% rise in buyers." And apparently the outlook for the market is therefore 'positive'.