So the growth from 1995 to 2005 was at a pace well over double the average of the preceding three or four decades. A large part of the additional growth was in the value of dwellings.
The extent of leverage against the dwelling stock also tended to increase, with the ratio of debt to total assets rising from 11 per cent at the start of 1995 to around 17½ per cent by the end of 2005. It has tended to rise a little further since then. Had we really found a powerful, hitherto unknown route to genuine wealth?