Property ladder's next move

Let's face it. Property journalism is a rather sedate affair. Most of the times, I sit at my desk?steaming Darjeeling cuppa at hand?and

flick through impossibly slick brochures of impossibly beautiful houses to pick the ones I like best.

Occasionally, on market report days, I try and remember how to work out a price increase percentage or dust off some basic notions of

statistics (mean, mode, median, no more) from my tragically long-gone university years?and at worst switch to bold Assam or even Kenya tea to give my neurons a little jolt.

Perhaps for this reason, I wish I could sometimes come across something different, unusual or just plain odd?something that would

make me jump in my chair or widen my eyes in disbelief the way I do when, say, hearing the news that Japanese thieves stole the roof of a public loo (why ever would they want

to do that?).

Except that today it happened?twice.

The first time, I was researching an article on outdoor living for Ideal Home, another title

from the same publishers of Country Life. I came across a fairytale treehouse priced £100,000. I actually had to read that three times to make sure I had not made a mistake but yes, it is right. Talk about house prices going mad. Treehouse prices are what we should be looking at! I had barely recovered from that shock when I got a perky little email advertising the fact that mortgage company Mortgages for Business had just granted a centenarian a 25-year business mortgage so he could start investing in buy to let. What can I say?

Well done to the sprightly old chap?I guess he figured it is better climbing the property ladder late than never.

But really, I have had altogether too much excitement for a day. I am going back to my glossy brochures?and a huge mug of camomile.