MORE people are worried about housing than at any time since 2007, according to this month’s Economist/Ipsos-MORI Issues Index. The number of people citing it as one of the “important issues” facing Britain rose to 16%, the highest in nearly eight years. Why the worry?

Plotting the public’s concerns against house prices suggests the answer. Housing fears fell in 2008-09, as prices dropped. As the market has rallied and prices have gone up, people have started to fret again.