It is somewhat inevitable, but the problem we see here, I believe, is about the magnitude of this rise. I don't believe housing should be a _completely_ free ma

It is somewhat inevitable, but the problem we see here, I believe, is about the magnitude of this rise. I don't believe housing should be a _completely_ free market : investors should be regulated out of the tense areas (except of course for new developments). Investment in older buildings in tense areas, combined with wealthy buyers who neither live in nor rent their property, are pushing prices way beyond acceptable ranges. I don't know about London, but in Paris for instance, 20 to 30% of the flats in the center districts are empty. When young professionals and less fortunate people are struggling to find housing and putting more than 40% of their income into the rent, I believe those 30% of empty flats are unacceptable and the owners should be taxed out of them. There are plenty of legitimate vehicles for investment, but already-built real estate is definitely not one of them. Such investment is not productive for the economy as a whole and is not much more than generational ransoming.