Inflation-obsessed central bankers are growing sympathetic to the plight of millions of buyers squeezed out of property markets by soaring house prices. Taking action, however, is another matter.
Janet Yellen, US Treasury secretary, spoke last month of her concern over “the pressures that higher housing prices will create for families that are first-time homebuyers or have less income”. She followed European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde, who acknowledged in June that “the disconnect between housing prices and broader economic developments during the pandemic entails the risk of price corrections”.
But because house prices are not directly included in the headline inflation measures that shape central banks’ mandate in advanced economies, those institutions are not required to seek to quell prices when they rise.