According to the government (as reported here by the BBC), one-in-three 30-somethings could be shut out of the housing market by 2026, should house prices "soar". The number of 20-somethings with a mortgage has dropped from 46% in 1995 to 36% in 2004, so Prescott and Housing & Planning minister Yvette Cooper say we need to build more houses to take the pressure of rising prices. What? The same house prices that, according to a new NOP survey, only 48% of homeowners think will rise in the next 12 months? When, exactly, are these prices likely to "soar"? Shortly after SIPPs, the government's latest hair-brained pension scheme, enables high-earners to save 40% tax by buying up second, third, fourth homes (all built, no doubt, by Prescott's fat hand) and renting them out to the 30-somethings who can't afford them.