It has taken four interest rate rises and the threat of the Home Information Pack deadline on June 1 to holster the UK housing market. No abrupt reversal, but certainly a slowdown.

The signs have been there a while. The latest two are a 15 per cent fall in mortgage approvals to a 14-month low of £3.9 billion and a drop in Rightmove’s April house price growth index to 0.1 per cent, the lowest this year.

Nationwide has already signalled an expected slowdown between July and December, when growth rates could be 5 per cent. There was a time when this would have been considered galloping, but with the UK pace at 10.9 per cent and London at 14 per cent, a welcome breather might be appreciated by first-time buyers and nervous switchers.

Not a signal for the Bank of England to turn soft on rate rises. One more should do the trick.

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