John Stepek

So the market doesn't really operate in the same way that most other supply and demand markets do.

So if you've got a house and someone wants it, you might be charging the same price that you were charging four years ago and getting that price.

Totally.

Totally.

And renting that asset is becoming more and more unappealing, as you said, because the renter's reform bill...

It's not as draconian as some of the ideas that you were talking about, but basically, you can only get your tenant out if you want to sell.

And that is a massive, massive shift.

And we don't know how that's going to play out in practice.

And landlords are becoming more and more sceptical about owning property.

That's creating more supply.

And it's never-ending.

The flip side to all of this is if you look at the amount of people who live on a tiny little island in comparison to, say, how many people who live in the States in a much, much bigger landmass, there is pent up demand to house people that hasn't been solved.

And the housing shortage is a massive issue.

The problem is you need a lot more collaboration from a centrist government and the private sector to make it work

in a way that's useful for the people who really need housing and practical for the people who build it, which at the moment we're miles apart.

Only counts as demand if the government view it high enough on the agenda to make it happen.

You know, if the government, for example, wanted to do a temporary cut in stamp duty from 17% at the top end to 5% and half stamp duty at the bottom end, you would see a flurry of transactions.

That might be temporary, but it would help construction.

It would help tax take because there's nothing happening at the moment.

We see all this data that says actually stamp duty take is on the rise due to the... I don't believe it.