I’m far from being alone in feeling that the death of HM Queen Elizabeth II was a time for reflection. The whole nation seemed to agree. My intention with this article was to ruminate on housing over the 70 years of her reign, and perhaps to identify some tentative conclusions for the future.

 Then came the ‘mini-budget’. Not a budget at all, according to the government, but a ‘fiscal event’, therefore not requiring any accompanying forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility. It proved to be a seismic fiscal event with huge implications for our economy in general and our housing economy more specifically. So, I’m going to do my best to make sense of the present by referring to the past.