It has contributed, he went on, more to the growth of civilisation than any other institution established by the human race. Ah, yes, property - that little piece of land that will forever be yours, at one and the same time a store of wealth and a utility, capable both of shelter and sustenance, a commodity more precious than gold, and more dependable than income or cash in the bank.
Yet as we have discovered afresh during the Great Recession, not everything about property is an unadulterated positive, for when the desire for it gets out of control, it has also repeatedly created merry havoc with the economy. Housing and commercial property busts when preceded, as they nearly always are, by a big run-up in gross indebtedness, tend to be associated with much deeper slumps and weaker recoveries than ordinary recessions.
China, and more recently Brazil, take note. What's just happened to the advanced economies may be about to afflict them, too. Research just published by Capital Economics notes that Brazil is in the grip of a fully fledged house price bubble, with prices in Sao Paulo doubled since 2008 and in Rio tripled. Read More
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