The politics in George Osborne’s plan to boost mortgage lending are faultless: both first-time buyers and existing homeowners will have much to thank him for, at least for a while.

Only a cynic would point out that in 2015 the new generation of homeowners will form a double electoral whammy together with people further up the property ladder: the first group relieved simply to have grasped the bottom rung and the second thankful that activity at the bottom of the market has bolstered their own property values.