The July measures were followed by a halt to the increase in the gross domestic product and almost certainly by a slight down-turn. So far there is no indication of significant change in the balance of payments situation since the second quarter, although the measures halted speculation against sterling and have been followed by a renewed inflow of foreign funds. The world economic environment now seems somewhat less favourable to an improvement in the United Kingdom's payments situation than it did in September, in spite of the recovery in the United States. The main reasons for a more cautious prognostication now lie in a pause in the economic expansion of western Europe; this has contributed to the weakness of commodity prices and is therefore limiting the prospects for expanding exports to primary producing countries.

This article discusses some of the factors that will affect house building in England and Wales during the next twenty years. It is hardly possible to predict the demand for new houses, as it is for consumer durables like cars and domestic appliances, by reference to changes in incomes and prices. Governments in Britain (as in most other wealthy countries) have taken the view that housing is, up to a point, a social responsibility and should not be left to the free play of market forces. Private rents have been controlled; most of the new houses since the war have been built by local authorities to be let at subsidised rents; and certain minimum standards have been laid down both for new public housing and for existing privately owned houses. Hence the cost of housing to the occupier, and the supply of new houses, have been largely dominated, directly or indirectly, by public policy; and the size of the house building programme is likely to continue to be, at least partly, a political decision.