'Sorry - baby boomers really did have it all'

Sure, we had to save for deposits and endure periods of high mortgage interest rates – remember 15pc under John Major. And some parts of the country, particularly London and the South East, benefited way more than others. But for most of the "housing haves" the feel-good factor has been terrific: like owning a lottery ticket that pays out week after week.

Those of us basking in the warm glow of rising house prices should be aware of two chilling facts. First, the theoretical wealth locked up in housing is economically unproductive. And second, it is the biggest single driver of rising inequality in Britain today.

It is unproductive "wealth" because most of us can't turn it into money. We all have a personal balance sheet which, all being well, grows over our working life and runs down in retirement. For the typical owner-occupier it consists of the right to a state pension, some private pension rights, some savings and a house. We often think of our house as part of our pension, but don't actually use it to provide retirement income.

Home ownership is disproportionately in the hands of the baby-boomer generation: 83pc of over-60s own their own home, and 64pc do so without a mortgage. This adds up to £1.3 trillion in housing equity. Three-and-a-half million of these older people want to move, but the right housing is not available and they are stuck. Most people talk about first-time buyers. But if we could create the right housing stock – homes providing an attractive lifestyle choice and an enhanced income for the demographic group we call the "last-time buyer" – then an extra £400bn could be deployed in the wider economy – investing in future growth and jobs.

Which brings me to inequality: while 3.5 million older people are trapped in homes that no longer suit them, 26pc of those aged 20-34 still live with their parents. Between 1997 and 2010, the average income needed to become a first-time buyer doubled from £20,000 to £40,000, and as many as 90pc of the first-time buyers need support from the "Bank of Mum and Dad".

There is epic intergenerational inequality, and housing is central. While my generation has been acquiring housing wealth, we have loaded debt on to the young – and this will have to be repaid. There is now more than £50bn in outstanding student loans, and £1.3 trillion of government debt.

We can't tackle the whole debt legacy in one go – it's hard enough for the Government to reduce its annual £100bn deficit given that we have an ageing population. But we can make inroads into the housing problem that sits at the heart of it.

We can do so through a policy of "Build, Build, Build". We should double housing completions to more than 200,000 per year, across all types of tenure (owner-occupied, private rented, affordable or social housing) and to suit all demographic groups: retired people, younger people, single people and so on.

This works, for example, in the student accommodation and affordable housing sectors, where my company has already made long-term investments of well over £1.5bn, and are looking to deploy slow money in a similar way in the build-to-rent sector.

And, if we can create the right housing stock, well-located, energy efficient and close to the "three F's – family, friends and facilities – then we can help free up some of the equity trapped in older people's homes, as well as freeing up the accommodation itself.

Our efforts need to be directed as much at the last-time as at the first-time buyer.

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