This weekend, we saw another significant tonal shift in the way the Government is approaching housebuilding and infrastructure. This time it was Communities’ Secretary Sajid Javid who brought the issue centre stage when he appeared on the Andrew Marr Show to argue that the Government should borrow to invest in order to solve the country’s housing crisis.

Sajid Javid’s comments followed on from the conference season and Theresa May’s housebuilding summit last week, and all of this certainly appears to signal that housing is to be the big topic in November’s Budget.

The housing crisis is climbing up the Government’s priority list, not least because the party which has historically championed ‘the nation of homeowners’ is severely chastened by June’s electoral result: winning over generation rent goes hand-in-hand with securing a future majority in the next Parliament.

Javid’s talk over the weekend of borrowing ‘sensibly’ is especially eye-catching considering that it was until only recently that Cabinet Ministers spoke continuously about ‘balancing the books’. In what again appears to be a consequence of the election result, it could be argued that Sajid Javid is pushing his government colleagues to adopt a position which is not too dissimilar to that of Labour’s “fiscal credibility rule” – although Mr Javid was keen to draw a distinction here.

The need for investment in not only housing, but other relevant infrastructure, is clear and Javid is correct in his assessment that with interest rates at a record low, now is a sensible time to be borrowing for such a vital cause. Yet interest rates have been at the same level for a number of years and Javid’s comments do raise the question as to whether this has been a missed opportunity over the past decade. So while I can appreciate the change in rhetoric, it remains to be seen if this will yield a new departure in public policy.

However, given interest rates have been at the same level for a number of years we can expect Javid’s comments to receive a healthy dose of criticism, especially from the left.  Interest rates have been low for a decade so has the country and its citizens suffered unnecessarily in that time?

It will also be important to remember that generation rent is not exclusively focused on homeownership – long-term tenancies, transparent rents and higher landlord standards are equally important for many young people.

As we await the budget the government have set the bar high, it is in their interest to ensure they do not disappoint.