When the pandemic came, a lot of people really started to kind of value their house more. Research suggests that those changing preferences explain roughly half of the increase in British house prices during the pandemic. But is there not a chance here that a house price correction is just slow to calm? Could this just be the column before the storm? Yeah, that's always possible. So it's just not clear at the moment that we're going to have this lag effect. And so kind of all things considered, the housing boom is definitely over but at least for now, there's not much sign of a housing bust.
Much to the chagrin of hopeful first-time buyers, property prices remain stubbornly high across the West. Our correspondent explains why housing is defying the laws of financial gravity. A new diamond deal in Botswana risks jeopardizing the country’s sparkling record. And why a failed crop of peaches will not cripple America’s Peach State.
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