I agree with David to a degree - I think that the British have become too accustomed to the idea of owning property. Never have we known the masses owning so much property in history! I'm afraid we are heading towards a have's and have not's system again where property will help create a bigger divide between the rich and poor.

My point was that a nurse simply cannot afford even a ?250k shared ownership property in London, but property tycoon's, property developer?s etc can - they can buy them up and let them out as investments. I think the commodities market is currently in a bubble which will burst when the panic is over in the money markets. It's the stock traders that cause the overinflated prices, people are too quick to jump on the doom and gloom wagon - it makes better press!

But if you saw the papers breakdown of prices yesterday you would have seen that FH prices only fell at a rate of 1.3% last month, much lower than many areas, and comparatively a small amount of money in real terms. By 2012, with the olympics and the east London line extention, FH prices will be up 20% on today.