Pre 2017, Budget’s almost always took place in March/April. This was a period of the year when, if you were thinking about your biggest asset, your house, you could then, post Budget, get it on the market and hit the best season. The ‘Autumn Statement’ was just that.

Now, for reasons no one has satisfactorily explained, we get the main Budget in late Autumn – meaning that, given the last decade’s political upheaval, the second best-selling period is comprehensively stymied pretty much every year by apprehension and the spectre of major change. Dogma continues to dog, sorry, anyone involved in property based commercial activity – all from a Government almost exclusively run by people with absolutely no idea what commerciality is, and it shows.

Our political system is not geared for long term solutions anyway, a five-year cycle – with often diametrically opposed ideologies – is not long enough to implement a proper economic plan. It’s one corollary of the Chinese one-party system that they’ve been able to implement a cohesive plan and give it time to develop. Our problem these days is that we don’t even get the full five years, with two or three becoming the norm before another ‘baby out with the bathwater’ moment.

Ed Mead, founding director at Viewber

I’ve said it before, but with UK Property PLC worth c.10% of UK PLC, it deserves a coherent plan, mostly for the betterment of people that actually live in housing, but also as a backdrop to persuade more private investment – now in retreat because nobody ever knows what the next incumbent in No.10 is going to do.

Could we take property ‘out’ of politics, is it possible? How about a Council with actual experience of how things work, the commercial imperatives, who understand the planning process, who understand that some investments require a longer term returns so that rental schemes get a chance, who understand what is needed in different geographies and demographics?

Some kind of local Mayoral input must be a good idea, but the scheme being discussed is somewhat short on detail. But there are a lot of property ‘people’ out there with decades of experience and a willingness to help find solutions that benefit everybody and can help lead vast amounts of inward investment and the right infrastructure.

There’s a Budget coming on 28th October, please, let’s not let dogma drive good sense. No one, ever, has taxed their way to growth.