In part the demand for housing reflects the fact that people with savings to invest have become disenchanted with the share market and other financial instruments. Savers still remember the 1987 share market crash and more recent tumbles in the US and Europe. As well, savers have seen global interest rates fall to historic lows and headlines of pension funds losing money.
At the same time property markets have stayed uncharacteristically buoyant and so there’s been a flight to “bricks and mortar”. The proportion of the housing stock owned as rental property has been rising over recent years. Increasing numbers of people prefer to hold wealth in housing assets, as opposed to other 1 investments. Property investment has been rising over the past year.