Christian McArdle wrote

Home *ownership* shouldn't / need not attract taxation: speculative
property buying/selling should, given the overall benefits of taking
some of the heat out of the property market.

I disagree entirely. House price inflation is caused by having too few
houses for too many people.

Yes, but the main factor is availability of finance - prices would not go up if
buyers could not borrow so easily. Being able to borrow more funds at low
interest rates, as at present, allows people to make higher offers to get the
place they want. If the interest rate goes up, down will come the amount they
can borrow and down will come prices. This was the cause of the negative equity
problems in the early 90's.

But simply using interest rates to control house prices depends on all lenders
sticking to the rules about factoring salaries. Of course they don't, and
nobody polices them, with the result that house prices (and agents' commissions
along with them) are spiralling.

Peter