When I first picked up Moore’s new book, I assumed it had to be about housing. This assumption wasn’t entirely off the mark, and the cover illustration of brickwork in a stretcher bond hints at the crux of the argument which Moore sets out in the book. The subtitle too, suggests some of the inherent contradictions in this issue, characterising property as both myth and concrete reality.

In The Reality of Realty, Moore describes what I think lies at the heart of this contradiction. Using the popular Netflix series Selling Sunset as both case study and metaphor, he demonstrates that the very image of property is something of a mirage – a compelling and in some ways addictive illusion that has become tied into our very sense of being, of achievement and of place in society.

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