“Essentially, what has happened in this country is that we’ve confused home ownership with the acquisition of wealth,” says Adam Sampson, Shelter’s chief executive. “Those two concepts, which should be distinct, have become irrevocably yoked together. It shows plainly in the reasons people give for wanting to buy: 30 or 40 years ago, you bought a home for security, stability, status, to gain control over your life. Now you do it to acquire wealth. And that has been encouraged as an article of faith across the political spectrum. It really has been the equivalent of the South Sea Bubble, or the Dutch tulip bulb hysteria.”

A clear and succinct a diagnosis as any I’ve seen.