Housing supply is 'inelastic' - unlike spaghetti or toilet roll. Even before the pandemic, rich world was building roughly half as many houses per year as it was in the 19 sixties and 19 seventies. Demand from people was just so high that the building funius couldn't keep up. And so you didn't get that sort of a matching increase in housing supply that would have helped to keep prices in check.
What started as a fuel-price skirmish has engulfed the entire country; now Russian-led troops have been summoned to help. How did things escalate so quickly? The spike in global house prices has several pandemic-related causes—but do not expect them to fall much when those factors fade. And our obituaries editor reflects on the life of Britain’s first transgender activist.
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