So it appears that we've solved that London house price problem then

As we know, that unaffordability of London housing is a major problem facing our society.  Fortunately, it appears to be something being solved:

House prices in London fell 0.7pc in the 12 months to June - the largest annual fall in the city’s house prices since September 2009.

Three of London’s central boroughs had double-digit drops in prices as the reversal in the capital's fortunes continued. The City of London fell 23.8pc, Kensington and Chelsea dropped 13.9pc and the City of Westminster slid 12.1pc, according to data from the Office for National Statistics and the Land Registry.

Note that these are nominal prices so we must ad inflation in to get to real ones. That's a 3.5% reduction or so in London housing prices then. And yes, that's a proper number because wages have been, just about, keeping up with inflation.

So, our problem, London housing is too expensive. The solution is to fin some manner of reducing that excessive price. We've just ha all London housing becoming some 3.5% more affordable. Which is pretty good in a market so large and doubly so for government work.

Hmm, what's that? But you don't want the price of housing to fall while you want it to become more affordable? That's not really an option reality allows you, sorry about that. We might not have your solution to this problem but we do seem to have a solution to it. Which is good, right?

And just think how much less in untaxed capital gains are going to be enjoyed as a result.