Not only do I look at how much house prices have changed, but I factor in how much new housing has been built and where. I also look at how the country’s net housing wealth is divided between owner occupiers and investors. Then, in a crescendo of analytical self indulgence, I try and work out how it is distributed between generations.

It chucks out some fascinating numbers. Who would have guessed that the housing stock of just two London boroughs is more than that of the whole of Wales? Who would have anticipated private landlords have as much housing equity as owner occupiers with a mortgage?

Irrelevant nonsense?

When I first undertook this exercise, one of my colleagues suggested it was all very interesting, but questioned whether it had any real relevance to the man on the street. I was crushed.

Arguably, they had a point. Who really cares if the value of housing in the UK stands at £6.79 trillion? Or if that figure has gone up by £1.5 trillion in the past three years? After all, isn’t this just a few numbers with a lot of noughts on the end?

I would disagree. To me, the numbers in our lead article illustrate many of the issues facing the housing market. It is not just a case of whether the value growth of the recent past can continue. Nor is it simply a question of whether the recent slowing in price growth is a blip or a trend.

Painting a picture

It brings home the impact of having a fundamentally undersupplied market. It paints a picture of the challenge in meeting the conflicting housing needs of different generations.

These are issues which the Government has sought to address in its recent Housing White Paper, cheerily titled “Fixing our Broken Housing Market”. It sets out its proposals under four key headings: planning for the right homes in the right places, building homes faster, diversifying the market and helping people now.

One of the people I follow on Twitter astutely described the proposals as steps, not leaps, in the right direction. But they are important steps, steps which Susan Emmett has looked at in more detail in this publication.

They seek to deliver more homes across a much wider range of tenures. For example, they more enthusiastically support the delivery of institutionally owned, purpose built rental accommodation. A topic close to Jacqui Daly’s heart, this is something she has explored in her article on the private rented sector.

From my perspective, it means I will have to review and revise how I go about valuing our housing stock in the future. More time with the spreadsheets, more complicated valuation formulae. In truth, I can hardly wait.