Something extraordinary has just happened. The phone rang. I picked it up and found myself talking to an estate agent...

Yeah I get that a lot. Don't tell me... she's calling to say the lawyer's drawing up a cease-and-desist?

... an estate agent who had just taken on a house she thought I might be interested in. You might think that is of no interest whatsoever – after all until a few months ago we were in the market for a house. But it is interesting simply because when we where looking no one ever called us with a house. Not only did estate agents not bother to call us after a viewing to see what we thought, they didn't bother to call us when something new came on the market. They waited until we saw it on the property websites or in the paper and called them.

Right.

Merryn Somerset Webb discusses the repercussions of supply outstripping demand, in MoneyWeek.

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