Britain's housing market has roared back to life this year and this may well be policymakers' unstated reason for raising interest rates.
The Bank of England surprised financial markets this month by increasing its main lending rate by a quarter-point to 4.75 per cent, explaining it was concerned that faster economic growth would keep inflation higher for longer.
Plausible enough given inflation is already well above target and could even exceed three per cent in the next few months, a point at which Governor Mervyn King would have to write a letter to the government explaining why it was so off-course.
But many experts suspect the central bank was also concerned that house prices, generally thought to be overvalued, are heading even higher and putting the market back toward the boom conditions of early 2004.
"They (the Monetary Policy Committee) are probably worried about the housing market," said George Buckley, chief UK economist at Deutsche Bank. "It's one of the factors why they raised rates."
The MPC has long said that it does not target asset prices and says its mandate is to keep inflation at two per cent.
But sharp movements in the cost of assets such as housing can have a big impact on inflation and policymakers were clearly alarmed when house price inflation ran into double digits two years ago.
The MPC raised rates back then too. And Governor Mervyn King explicitly told homebuyers to be wary in June 2004 - comments widely credited with taking the wind out of the market without precipitating a more dangerous crash.
But house prices started picking up again after the MPC cut interest rates by a quarter-point in August 2005, so much so that policymakers argued against a further cut for fear it would light another fire under the market.
The market has since continued to surprise on the upside.
The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors said last week that prices were rising at their fastest since May 2004.
Major lenders like HBOS and the Nationwide building society, meanwhile, have been revising up their forecasts for house price growth this year in the face of resilient demand.
Mortgage lending and approvals figures have also pointed to continued growth in prices over the rest of the year though economists said the BoE's latest hike may slow the market. Alan Castle, economist at Lehman Brothers, said the BoE had been surprised by the impact last August's rate cut had on housing market sentiment and would be particularly alert to what effect its latest hike had on the market.
A survey by property website Rightmove which covered a small period immediately after this month's hike suggested prices were turning down.
Some lenders have even raised their mortgage rates above the quarter-point increase in the BoE's base rate in a sign that easy credit conditions may become a thing of the past.
And many economists are predicting the BoE will hike rates again in November which could further raise monthly mortgage payments for consumers already having to cope with a record rise in household utility bills.
Still, this year's housing revival has been led by London and the south-east of England where the market is getting a boost from huge bonuses in the financial sector and a constant flow of immigrants.
"There is a risk house prices could accelerate further in the near term," said Matthew Sharratt at Bank of America.
The Bank of England is sure to be watching.