Real Estate Blues

Mrs. Werbenmanjensen sold a house at a time, we're now told, that was the peak of the real estate market in the general Washington, D.C., market. While I don't care for being a tenant, there are certain advantages--like when something breaks, someone else pays to fix it. Meanwhile, the money we made off the sale sits earning interest somewhere else.

Anyway, we often roll past the estate agents on our high street and have a laugh at the prices for any property in our neighborhood, knowing that we could buy but not sure we want to commit to anything that expensive.

And it turns out that might be where the smart money is.

· Matt Barrett, the former chairman of Barclays, is reported to have sold his Chelsea home and moved into a rented house, having decided an offer of 25% above the asking price was too good to miss. Sir John Ritblat has sold most of his shares in property firm British Land.

OK, when the bankers become tenants, you know something's up.