7 SEPTEMBER 1945, Page 14

THE HOUSE PRICE RACKET

StR,—It is difficult to see how the price of a house sold by public auction can be controlled by legislation. Surely it is the public who are forcing prices to an abnormal level by competing in an open market. Again, is it to be made illegal for a householder to accept a voluntary offer, quite unsought, of L.4,000 for a house which cost him under f 2,000?—Yours