Family Harford has just put in an offer for the house next door, to hoots of scorn from my colleagues, who know me as a bear among bears. It is true that the London housing market seems (who knows?) to be in the final stages of its biggest-ever bubble. But there are special circumstances involved here, one of which is that no rational economic actor disobeys an order from his wife.

My discomfort at having to make an offer put me to thinking that we often bungle our housing decisions. I am ever the champion of economic rationality, but even I would admit that there are exceptions. Buying a house is a rare event and the stakes are mind-bendingly high. Calamity is, therefore, always possible.