What just happened in Newington Green?

Making a fortune from living in a house is silly, but does anyone really get to enjoy that money? You would have to sell your home to realise the profit, and you will then have to buy another home to live in. When you retire and downsize maybe you can, but is that any different from any other type of long-term investment, such as a pension?

In the housing boom very large profits could be made in a few years; or less. A long-term investement is one thing; what housing became was another. Plus there was the great buy-to-let market which led to all sorts of problems. And the fetish for owning a house, rather than renting, led to the absurdities of the mortgage market. I doubt that anyone other than idealogical politicians and so called property developers think that the last 25 years has been a success with regard to housing.
Why something as fundamental as housing is left entirely to the private sector is beyond me.