US presidents, especially Republican ones, like to champion home ownership as an essential component of the American dream. Donald Trump, too, has pushed policies in this vein.

But Trump’s quixotic policymaking — particularly last week’s assault on global trade — seems likely to lead to higher unemployment, higher inflation and generally tougher times for the US consumer. So you might expect the housing market — and the mortgage market that underpins it — to suffer, too.

In the short term, the opposite may be true. As Trump’s tariffs freak out world leaders and global stock markets, they have triggered a knee-jerk flight to safety, with investors ironically diverting their money into US Treasury bonds, issued by the very government that caused the crisis of confidence. That has lowered US Treasury yields substantially — 10-year bonds are now paying below 4 per cent, down from a 4.8 per cent January high — as well as the mortgage rates that are priced off them.